With the murder of engineering student Avery Keshwar reminding many of life’s uncertainty, Jehovah’s Witness brother Roger Nurse told mourners they should count their days left on earth and spend it wisely.
In delivering his discourse at Keshwar’s funeral at the Princes Town Kingdom Hall yesterday, Nurse said the death came as a shock to the congregation, especially because of the way it happened.
Tragedy struck on Monday when the 22-year-old UWI student was shot dead along with PC Russell Ramnarine, 24, at Aranguez Road, Aranguez. Reports stated that Ramnarine and a uniformed officer accompanied Keshwar to an unmarked vehicle in Aranguez to meet the suspect who stole the student’s cellphone and other items.
Telling mourners that spirituality should take priority in their lives, Nurse promised that “God would bring an end to this wicked system and those who are in favour will get their reward.|”
Reading from the Book of Psalms he said, “The writer is Moses and he is speaking to God. He said ‘teach us how to count our days that we may acquire a heart of wisdom...’ This should make us think about how we are using our lives. When we are here and the reality of death hits us, it should make us think about how we are using our lives now. “Since life is short, we should count our days by exercising wisdom so that our remaining days are not wasted but are spent in a way that is pleasing to Jehovah God. Yes we have things to do and places to go but is what we do really pleasing to God and what can we do more that would please our creator God? We should have spiritual priorities and use our remaining time left wisely.”
Friends, university peers and former St Stephen’s College schoolmates of Keshwar came out for the first part of his funeral, which was held at Guides Funeral Home in San Fernando. His friends who were with him the morning of his death were inconsolable, as were his mother Ranu, father Kennedy and sister Samantha.
Relatives and neighbours turned up at the family’s Iere Village home to say their final goodbyes as well. In a brief eulogy, his cousin Charlotte Bridgenath said she would always remember him as a very devoted cousin, son and brother. She said he was the perfect example of how all young males should strive to be in terms of how to treat a mother and a sister.
“This is a great loss to society in general, not just to our family because he was a fine example in all aspects of his life,” Bridgenath said.
Another cousin, Fazeela Mohammed-Bissessar, said he inspired everyone and never made anything a problem in his life.