News headlines today reported on the murder of a US diplomat in Sudan. I wonder what the rest of the world thinks of such a headline, if it thinks about it at all. All over the world people get killed, Sudan is largely thought to be a dangerous place, and given America's reputation in the world it hardly raises an eyebrow that an American might have been targeted. For most people this news might seem so ordinary or abstract as to fade into the background.
But not for the people who knew John Granville, 33, or those who benefited from the important work that people like him do. US diplomacy is not always about warmongering; the federal government also employs a number of dedicated professionals committed to nation-building, and he was one of them. Nobody wins with his loss; the world is much poorer without people like him.
Thoughts to his family and friends, and also to those of his driver, Abdelrahman Abbas Rahama, 39, who was killed with him. Without the indispensable assistance of local drivers important humanitarian work all over the world would never get done. Their loss is to be mourned as well.