It is no longer shocking when my contemporaries die. Last month, a friend who lived next door growing up, a post-college roommate, and a former Cambridge neighbor all passed away.

When three close friends died in their forties, each was a heartbreaking loss, a life cut off way too early.  These latest deaths are easier to accept, yet remind us of our own mortality.

I don’t know the people dying needlessly in the Ukraine.  But I honor their bravery and their willingness to sacrifice their lives to save their country’s freedom.

All deaths are sad, but the loss of life in the Ukraine is a tragedy.