DAR ES SALAAM, March 1 -- SURELY, surely, Donne wrote, “every mans death diminishes me.” In that single line, the seventeenth century English poet reminds us that all human beings are fundamentally connected. No person exists in isolation. The loss of any individual is a loss to humanity as a whole and therefore to each of us personally. His meditation was not about politics, power, or public image. It was about shared humanity.

Yet today, we seem to have forgotten that lesson, especially our youth who are caught in the social media web. Whenever a public figure dies, especially a political leader, the immediate reaction is no longer quiet reflection. It is commentary. It is debate. It is scoring points. Social media fills wi...