This day is also the birthday of one of the most special people in the world I believe. Princess Diana was truly the "Peoples Princess" and many of her contributions are truly overlooked. She brought a lot of attention to the issue of Land Mines and land mine clearance. Many countries such as Bosnia, Afghanistan, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and many others have vast tracts of lands that are unusable for agriculture due to the use of this indiscriminate weapon. Her efforts have resulted in the Ottawa Treaty which has attempted to ban the deployment and production of land mine. However, many of the biggest offenders have refused to sign, thus leaving this indiscriminate weapon to maim and kill.She did many things, but this is the most poignant for me as I wrote the Princess Diana Memorial Committee after her passing proposing the creation of a unit of Royal Engineers to be deployed all over the world in her name to clear land mines. I got a nice letter back saying that the idea had merit but never heard any more about it. I suppose if I had made more of an effort there would be a unit, but then again there was so many things I was doing at the time which left me with no time to pursue it any further.
She was such a beautiful, special person, so totally unlike the vapid, self-centered people that dominate the media today. I hope that a lot of people live by her example.
1 comment:
Wow, I did not know you shared the same b-day.
She was an amazing woman and the world is amiss without her. The other woman that died that same week and my hero too...Mother Teresa.
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