If one lives long enough, everything will come, even death; and death did finally come to Richie’s family. I had known Richie when he was barely in his pampers as by then his parents and I were neighbours and I was working together with his father in an institution. The close relationship between our two families had endured in the normal natural spurts even after our retirement. This time, I had visited the family to condole with them as they buried their son Richie. Richie had been a soldier stationed in Somalia and had met his death by a hail of bullets from a jihadist gun. He was a fine soldier, his superior officers had said. A very social being, generous and very committed to his faith, the villager’s had murmured. No hint of scandal or pride, they added. The village came in full swing to condole with Richie’s family. The eulogies were long and sad and all dwelt on the loss of a young fine man. It must have been Plato, the famous Greek philosopher who had coined the exp