I just got back from a weekend in the Baviaans and was pretty eager to catch up on emails and news. We had no reception where we were and I never checked my phone. Before I left, Bruce (Gold) gave me a call from a hospital in Durban and said that he's still in there after the operation he had due to skin cancer. They removed parts of his shoulder and it's pretty hairy stuff for a 62 year old man who's lived a surfing lifestyle all his life. Little did we know that Oom Shorty Bronkhorst would pass away this weekend in Humansdorp Hospital from a cancer related illness. So I learned when I opened up the homepage of wavescape.co.za...
I must be honest, I don't know Oom Shorty personally, but Bruce and other surfers has told me so much about him. I was taught that if you respect somebody, you call them "Oom" So for me, Shorty or Uncle Shorty soon became Oom Shorty. I always greeted him when we passed each other on the beach, and he always exchanged a smile when I saw him. In the last year or so, I did not see him too often and I sometimes asked the other locals if they know how he's doing and where he is. Bruce nagged at me a couple of times that we should go and make an interview with Oom Shorty and take some photos, but that never happened. It's a real pity that we never got around to do it.
Unfortunately, our bodies cannot go on forever. At least not in this fallen world. Even though I did not even know Oom Shorty on a personal level, I find myself feeling like I had lost a relative. I used to do soaring in the Bloemfontein Gliding Club and if I hear of any plane crashes where people died or got injured, my heart truly goes out to them. Same thing when a fellow surfer is in distress or passes away. It really touches me deeply. We share the same stoke and the common ground and brotherhood that only a surfer will know.
I know Oom Shorty will be missed by a lot of people and my hearfelt condolenses goes out to his friends and relatives.
When somebody passes on, one cannot help but rethink life and the meaning of life.
I have come to this conclusion. Life is all about the relationship we have with those around us and that relationship with our Creator. Life is not about ourselves, it's all about the other people. Sooner or later, we are going to "drop body and soul goes marching on" as Bruce Gold always puts it, and then we are going to face the music. I definitely don't want to stand there at the end of life looking back with regrets and stuff, or maybe thinking that I have not lived life to the max.
For you who's reading this blog, I urge you to get to know God and Jesus as your personal Saviour. Forget all the religious !@#$ and just find out for yourself who He really is. He is a true rewarder of those who diligently seek Him and if you cry out to Him, He will save you. He redeemed me and can do the same for you!
Rest in peace Oom Shorty. I hope you made the right decisions and that you are styling eppic glassy barreling waves where you are, living that endless summer.
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