A better son/daughter
By 
A few days ago I was kicking around some 25th amendment reform ideas with Larry Tribe, related to a draft of this piece. Larry suggested that I talk to Jamie Raskin, a former student of his and a current member of Congress from Maryland, who recently introduced a bill to reform the decisional body charged with invoking Section 4 of that amendment.
Earlier today I was looking for Raskin’s contact information, and instead found this heart-wrenching tribute, authored by Raskin and his wife, to their son Tommy, who died five days ago.
No man is an island, entire of itself; every 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 if a manor of thy friend’s 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.John Donne, Meditation XVII
The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong at the broken places. But those that will not break it kills. It kills the very good and the very gentle and the very brave impartially. If you are none of these you can be sure it will kill you too but there will be no special hurry.Hemingway, A Farewell to Arms