AS I see it, death is inevitable and is par to the course of the human experience. At some point, it will come to all our doorsteps.

At this moment it may not be your time or mine, but until then we would have witnessed the ‘cometh of the hour’ for many others.

And even as it happens far away from us, or to people we are not acquainted with, it has the uncanny ability to affect us nonetheless. Perhaps, because we are in some weird solidarity with those who have gone on before us, knowing very well that you could be next.

One of the great ironies about death is that while we expect it, we never seem prepared for it — neither as victim nor someone mourning the loss of a loved one.

We hate, in essence, its sense of finality — the end of all living things — man and beast.

Like nothing else, death has the ability to plunge us to the lowest depth of the human emotion.

And so it was for many Jamaicans when they heard the heartbreaking news on Saturday of the sudden death of student athlete Cavahn McKenzie.

I, for one, was moved, not only by the news of the youngster’s passing in Tobago where he was representing Jamaica, but the reaction of the deceased’s distraught mother Pauline Dennis.

She recounted, between episodes of weeping, how her precocious and driven son vowed to use his God-given talent of long-distance running to heave her out of the abject poverty of Cane Lane, an impoverished rural settlement in Annotto Bay, St Mary.

By her admission, his words were not viewed as lofty utterances from a wild teenage mind. She believed in him. Miss Dennis treasured her son’s promises.

“Him always love tek care a mi and him say ‘mammi I am gonna be there for you and try fi tek you out a poverty. Mi a go try fi buss fi come help you and buy a house and take care of the family’.”

Those, in my best estimation, are the words of a sincere soul.

Young Cavahn McKenzie’s promise of a better life for his mother speaks volumes to his character.

But more importantly, in my view, it represents the sentiments of many young men and women living in Jamaica’s urban and rural slums. Many, like Cavahn, see the potential of sport as a way of turning their lives around, and fortunately for them, they may still have that chance.

For Cavahn, the clocked has stopped in the race of life.

No doubt, the success stories of Usain Bolt, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Veronica Campbell Brown, Ricardo ‘Bibi’ Gardner and Chris Gayle, to name a few, would have inspired many young people that sport is a viable option weighed against a way of life that would lead to certain destruction.

As Cavahn’s body was flown into the island from Trinidad and Tobago on Thursday where he competed in a NACAC Cross-Country 6K run, there are questions more than answers about the cause of death.

An autopsy conducted in the twin-island republic could not conclusively say the real cause of death. We have heard that the Government of Jamaica is now considering doing further scientific tests to see if they can come closer to why a teenage athlete in the prime of life would have just collapsed and died after competing in a pet event.

I hope for the sake of closure, and to discourage undue conspiracy theorists to form ideas, that the matter can be concluded speedily and to the satisfaction of all, especially for the benefit of the mourning family.

That said, I would like to pause to salute all Jamaicans who have come out in support for the bereaved in Cane Lane and the St Jago High School community, the school of the distance-runner and steeplechase specialist.

It was heart-warming for me that, in the midst of a recognisable cold and callous side to us, to see that as a people we have not lost our compassion for each other in times like these.

And that was aptly demonstrated by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller, whose gesture of support by visiting Cavahn’s Cane Lane home shortly after the tragedy must have gone a far way in reassuring the traumatised family that their pain is indeed being shared by those seated high and low.

And in a continued show of support and empathy, the prime minister was at the Norman Manley International Airport, along with minister Natalie Neita-Headley and Cavahn’s parents Dennis and John McKenzie for the arrival of the late runner’s remains.

Cavahn McKenzie’s death may have brought an abrupt end to a promising athletic career, but from the grave he may still be able to deliver his promise of a better life for his dear mother.

With all the attention his death has received and the conscience of a sympathetic nation at its peak, perhaps there is someone out there who would want to honour this young man’s sacred vow to his mom.

Because I know if death had postponed its visit this time around, Cavahn would — by the sheer content of his will and determination — deliver his promise.