“No man is an island entire of itself”, wrote John Donne, English writer, divine and MP in January 1624, in Meditation XVII.
“[E]very man
is a piece of the continent, a part of the main;
if a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe
is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as
well as any manner of thy friends or of thine
own were; any man’s death diminishes me,
because I am involved in mankind.
And therefore never send to know for whom
the bell tolls; it tolls for thee.”
Donne would tell us, on our own clean, green and clever island, that we are “involved in mankind”.
Except, it seems, when “for whom the bell tolls” is one of ours, a young Tasmanian man, with a history of beneficial contributions seeking to better the lives of the poorest of the poor in the world’s poorest continent.
Except, it seems, when “for whom the bell tolls” is Ross Langdon, whose passion as reported in TT, was “unconventional sustainable design solutions, and he [had] an on-going interest in developing new models for ecologically and socially sustainable tourism infrastructures in environmentally-sensitive locations”.
Except, it seems, when “for whom the bell tolls” is Mr Langdon’s pregnant partner Elif Yavuz “was working in Tanzania as a senior vaccines researcher at the Clinton Health Access Initiative, a global organization chaired by former [US] president Bill Clinton”; link –
http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/09/23/recent-harvard-graduate-partner-among-those-killed-kenya-terror-attacks/gPFXCH93tOKLKXPfyuZM8K/story.html
Relevant TT article “Selfless victims of Nairobi madness” had drawn one, yes, just one, Comment at the time of submitting this article; link –
http://oldtt.pixelkey.biz/index.php?/weblog/article/selfless-victims-of-nairobi-madness/
It seems, at the time of sending, that these three lives, a mother’s, a father’s and an unborn child’s, are less important in TT blogland than those of inferior life forms, such as trees and animals.
Hope Gary Stannus quickly loses his status as sole poster.
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