The praise and appreciation of some people never gets old, it’s almost like wine that gets better with time. I’m talking about Dick Lamm, who I have wanted to pay my heart felt tribute to but refrained from doing so immediately after his death as voices louder than mine, and esteemed men and women in high places, paid him homage. But the idea of our unlikely friendship has kept bubbling up in my head.

I come to praise Dick and to recall his charm as I pen this ode to his amazing mind. I’d say that those who seed the winds with ideas will be lucky to have as many good ideas left blowing in the wind when they depart, as Dick’s do. But then he had a knack of shooting from the mouth no matter the consequence, that lesser beings would be careful not to do. And then most of what he said made sense, and much is still remembered and quoted. Phrases like, “the duty to die and get out of the way” referring to the old and terminally ill; and “if I had a magic wand,” and many others come to mind.

Our paths crossed in the space of opinion writing when he reached out to me after he read and liked what I had written about the Pope, condoms and HIV in Africa. Dick was like that; he didn’t find any need to hide behind the imagined grandeur of past office. There ensued a friendship where our many discussions traversed matters of time, geography and philosophy. He was a merciless critic of some of my thoughts and ideas; and just as graciously receptive when I pointed out holes or weaknesses in his thoughts and ideas. Isn’t that all we ask of our friends? To listen to us and inform us.

An idea that informed Dick’s vision of the world was the role of culture in human development and civilization. He believed some cultures were superior and others inferior; there was a hierarchy among cultures. In short, western culture was superior and that of the rest of the world inferior. Culture was important in determining a society’s development, he said and wrote in newspaper columns. African culture he opined was definitely inferior. I weakly demurred.

An example he quoted often involved South Korea’s and Ghana’s development. On achieving its independence from Britain in the 1960s, Ghana’s GDP was the same as that of South Korea. Thirty years later, the contrast between the two countries was staggering and he had the numbers to prove it.

Like in much of Africa, Ghana was still mired in poverty and corruption as South Korea was outperforming most developed nations. The explanation was, Dick argued, Korean culture of disciplined hard work. I hated to agree with him, but the proof was in the logic and mathematics. That said, I know Ghanaians and Kenyans are hard workers. African and Korean disparities had to be the politics of place, distinct histories and resources.

It is hard to create wealth without an infusion of capital and know how. South Korea, like Germany after World War II, had an infusion of billions of American Dollars, something that didn’t happen in Ghana. America had a stake in Korea. After the British decamped, they left a Ghana in penury. In fact what Britain did to Ghana was repeated time and again by European colonial powers; leaving behind empty husks of “independent” African nations.

And then, what has Western culture and civilization wrought to our world? I ask. I hate to think anyone would like to see a replica of South Korea in tropical Africa. The point is, the shiny concrete structures of Denver and Boulder come with a dear price to our planet — the worst drought in 1,200 years; and unprecedented fires and deluges. We should be careful for what we wish for.

I remember Dick with fondness but lament his passing. If he was still alive I would convince him to help us to work towards converting South Korea into more of a Brazil, Congo or Ghana — more sylvan; less concrete; less nocturnal light, and less raucous. His spirit lives on. Our search is for others to inherit his mantle.

Pius Kamau, M.D., general surgery, is president of the Aurora-based Africa America Higher Education Partnerships; co-founder of the Africa Enterprise Group and president of the Consortium of African Diasporas in the U.S.A. He has been a National Public Radio commentator and a blogger, and is author of “The Doctor’s Date with Death.”