It’s been only a week and a day since the beloved playwright, director, and actor Chadwick Boseman passed. I’ve had to pause and grieve more than I would have guessed these past few days. What a heightened time to contemplate, and appreciate, the power of quiet inner strength. Because of COVID, we’re made to be still, to be quiet. That’s not a normal position for most. In this world where to be heard and loud is to be successful, this is not a normal time.
As I grieve, as I contemplate my own personal challenges, I don’t mind saying out loud that I now ask myself: What would Chadwick do in this kind of situation? Are you persevering enough? Is your sacrifice and suffering worth the end goal?
It’s beautiful and ironic that Chadwick’s physical death illuminates for us, perhaps, what spiritual alignment looks like. It seems that his leaving this earthly realm is perfectly aligned with his mission. More than we can fully know at this moment, perhaps his death was a perfect departure at the right time.
Rest in peace Chadwick Boseman (November 29, 1976 – August 28, 2020). My heartfelt prayers are in motion for his family and friends, including the Howard University theater family.
“Those who have died have never ever left. The dead are not under the earth. They are in the rustling trees, they are in the groaning woods, they are in the crying grass, they are in the moaning rocks. The dead are not under the earth. So listen more often to things than to beings. Listen more often to things than to beings. ‘Tis the ancestors’ breath when the fire’s voice is heard. ‘Tis the ancestors’ breath in the voice of the waters … Those who have died have never ever left … the dead have a pact with the living.”
– Birago Diop
Senegalese Poet and Storyteller
Senegalese Poet and Storyteller
(December 11, 1906 – November 25, 1989)
Updated November 14, 2022