Dar es Salaam, March 2 -- TANZANIA: The world is one of perpetual farewells; the hands that clasp in kind greetings now are destined to come together again when the trembling lips utter the word, Goodbye.

As the protagonists in his tale were about to part ways and most likely never to see each other again, this is what eighteenth-century Scottish novelist R. M. Ballantyne wrote.

When Ballantynes sad statements are further studied, it becomes clear that the author is warning us about our mortality and the fact that nothing in this world, including life, lasts forever. The English playwright William Shakespeare expressed it more concisely when he said, I quote.

“Life is but a passing shadow, a meek performer who struts and frets fo...