His voice came to you from above.
Literally. At least once a day. Always in the morning. Sometimes later in the day if you were lucky. Thousands of others heard him too. The voice we heard was the voice of Afsheen Benab - the voice of Lafayette Elementary School and an angel on our planet Earth.
Afsheen was an angel not because his voice came from above (with the help of an intercom system). He was an angel because of how he used his voice and how he treated people.
For more than twenty years, every school day morning at 8:45am, the Lafayette community, with 900 students and 100 staff, would receive the blessings of an angel.
The blessings included local weather and sports updates, birthday wishes, historical trivia, and appeals for peace and kindness. His announcements always ended with his signature signoff: “Lafayette, the time is now. Go take on the day. Cheerio Mates!”
To be accurate, Afsheen would usually come on closer to 8:46. He would play a musical warmup that got teachers tapping their pens and bobbing their heads. It would get students wiggling their bodies as they guessed the unfolding rhythm of “adult music” - Motown’s greatest hits, Aretha Franklin, The Beatles, U2, Bruce Springsteen. Each day Afsheen would dedicate the music to a teacher in the building. And on Fridays, he would pay homage to the District of Columbia’s own Go-Go music with Go-Go Fridays. Whether or not you liked Go-Go or the other songs, everyone liked the sound that followed, the voice of our angel, Afsheen Benab.
Afsheen was Lafayette’s registrar. He sat at the front desk in the school’s office overlooking the front doors and overseeing enrollment of every student at DC’s largest elementary school. He would welcome every student and family with warmth. He greeted every teacher with an encouraging, appreciative love. He served and supported school administrators. He built rapport with everyone. Everyone loved Afsheen. Everyone leaned on Afsheen. Everyone lived more because of Afsheen.
You felt understood by Afsheen. Whether you were a Lafayette teacher of ten years checking in for the 900th time as you made copies or you were a family from abroad, new to the U.S., new to the neighborhood, and navigating an emotional transition and enrollment experience, Afsheen understood you. All you needed to do to feel enriched and loved by Afsheen, was be greeted by him.
Hey Linda! Hi Bobby. Good morning Abby. Go Blue Erin! How are you doing, Daniela? See you later Stephanie. Peace out Elie.
A simple greeting from Afsheen infused you with energy, empathy, and enthusiasm. I never received so much good will from a greeting. What made him such a good greeter?
There was nothing extra he did to greet someone. There was no special face or farce he put on. He was just himself. His authenticity and charismatic care for others was contagious. So around him, you could just be yourself. This was one of his many gifts and blessings to us. Letting us be ourselves. Letting me be myself.
Being an angel, his self was especially worthy of emulation. I think Afsheen practiced what Martin Luther King Jr. invited us to embody; a dangerous kind of unselfishness. Afsheen valued “we” over “me”. He devoted his life to improving the welfare of others and creating a more just world. He understood humanity’s interconnectedness and acted accordingly. He would often use his pulpit at Lafayette to preach peace and respect. In conversations on local or global politics, Afsheen often quoted to me King’s claim that,
“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.”
Afsheen understood that injustice is not an invisible force acting upon us. Injustice is an active choice that people make in their hearts and minds; a refusal to be fair and honest. While Afsheen was mindful of injustice around the globe, he was locally focused. He would treat each person he saw every day with kindness and love. Why let the injustice of others bother you if you cannot deal justly with people in your own community?
That doesn’t mean Afsheen lived unbothered by others. Ohio State!?! Don’t get him started. Go Blue! Watch out Philly and Dallas fans… #HTTC. And look out Janney Jaguars on the basketball court. Go Bears!!! Afsheen cheered like he greeted, with his whole heart.
Afsheen’s fandom highlighted his humanity. And, Afsheen’s response to your fandom highlighted his angelic nature. He wouldn’t let whichever colors you were rooting for or wearing impact how he would treat you. And most importantly, Afsheen wouldn’t let how he was feeling affect how he treated you.
In a ginormous elementary school, in which hundreds of people - children and adults alike - let their feelings form their tone of voice and behavior towards others, Afsheen’s kindness, respect, and even-keeled love was unwavering and constant. Always there, like a bobbing buoy in choppy water. Afsheen could only bring us up and back to the best of ourselves.
Afsheen didn’t force a smile if he wasn’t feeling well. He was honest and open if he wasn’t feeling his best. And as he continued his fight with cancer it wasn’t infrequent that he’d be feeling below the line. And still, in those moments, he’d give you his best. He’d bring you up no matter his or your situation. Through his announcements, his actions, his greetings, his morals, his smile, or simply a wave, Afsheen was a buoy for us all. An angel who brought you higher, who believed in you, and who helped you manifest the perfection already within yourself.
Now, in the wake of Afsheen’s death, it’s easy to feel down. Brought down by the loss of a legend who filled our lives with such light, peace, and joy. I was initially going to title this “Losing An Angel”. Loss, at the end of the day, is what caused me to write this reflection. But that would undermine Afsheen’s gift to us all; life. As I wrote earlier, Afsheen helped others live more. “The time is now, go take on the day” was not an empty platitude to fill time during announcements. It was an invitation and challenge for us all to live intentionally - students, teachers, principals, cafeteria staff, everyone.
So now, when I feel the loss of my friend-mentor-announcer-angel Afsheen, I try to focus on the life he lived and the tools he gave us all to take on our days. I try to pull myself up the rope to his buoy of kindness, peace, and humanity that he so humbly modeled for me and our world.
In his 2024 Holiday Break Announcement, Afsheen wrote, “In the last 75 years or so, we have lost so many people who have earned the respect and appreciation around the world because they cared.” He then lists the names of the world’s great pantheon of peace leaders; Ghandi, King, Mandela, etc. He says “they will always be remembered for their courage, grace and humanity.”
Well, in the last year, we have lost you, Afsheen Benab. And you, Afsheen, earned the respect and appreciation of us all - in the Lafayette community and around the world - because you cared. Because you showed us courage, grace, and humanity.
May your life be a buoy in our days and an angel in our skies or our intercom systems. May we find the courage to be as graceful and human as you. May your memory forever be a blessing.
And if I ever end up in a place called Heaven, I expect to be greeted by you, Afsheen Benab.
Always your partner for peace,
Elie Goldman
