Echoes of a "Small World"

In spite of our "connectedness" via the electronic world, e-mail, computers, cellphones, etc., one man's death shows just how small the world really is.

My daughter was in London a few weeks ago. Nothing amazing about that - a lot of people visit London. What makes this trip unsual is that the former spy, Alexander Litvinenko, stayed on the eighth floor of the same hotel in which my daughter and her friend stayed. They were on the sixth floor. And of course, in the elevators (lifts), lounge, pub, etc. It seems as though every day you read of yet another victim of polonium poisoning. Her friend has visited her doctor and they are tracking dates and times. My daughter also met a gentleman who works for Scotland yard and he is keeping her abreast via e-mail.

The possibility of my daughter and her friend being inflicted with this is extremely small but it's unnerving, just the same.

A small world? And getting smaller all the time...