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WHY DO BAD THINGS HAPPEN TO EXTREMELY GOOD PEOPLE

There is a saying in my language, Yoruba, that “Igi to ba to, kii pe n’gbo” – meaning, the good ones do not seem to last or live long. WHY?

Tatiana Schlossberg, granddaughter of John F Kennedy (The U.S. President who championed the civil rights movement to end discrimination; one of the greatest U.S. presidents ever) and daughter of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, passed away today from cancer at a young age of 35. Like her grandfather and many others in the Kennedy family, she dedicated her life to changing the world. She was a passionate environmental journalist for the New York Times and wrote a book titled "Inconspicuous Consumption: The Environmental Impact You Don’t Know You Have” in 2019 that won the Society of Environmental Journalists’ Rachel Carson Environment Book Award in 2020. Her life’s work sheds light on how individuals’ daily activities and choices exacerbate climate change issues. Tatiana Schlossberg's work focused on making complex environmental issues accessible to a wide audience and encouraging thoughtful action. Like many in the Kennedy family, her story is tragic. She was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer, acute myeloid leukemia (AML), one day after giving birth to her second child in May 2025. In November 2025, she wrote a poignant essay for The New Yorker titled "A Battle with My Blood," in which she lamented the tragedy of her life and the fact that she had been a good child all her life and done everything right – she was a graduate of top schools, Yale and Oxford. She was sorry that her children would not have a strong memory of her as they grew older. She expressed anger at her cousin, RFK, the current Secretary of Health Services, whose work has blocked funding for research targeting the type of cancer she had. She ended by tongue-lashing the failure of successive governments, especially the right-leaning ones that failed to prioritize humane public policy and healthcare, reinforcing her commitment to social justice. Like many in her family, who dedicated their lives to the common good, she did not live long enough to see the fruits of her work produce outstanding results….

Extremely good people are impassioned by their causes so much so that they often neglect to prioritize and take good care of themselves… they do not prioritize their physical security, so they get shot and assassinated; they do not give time to their health, so they do not get treated before a simple ailment becomes untreatable; they go to some of the most dangerous places just to save a few… If you are there and you know you have been commissioned to support some of the biggest causes of our time – I implore you to take care of yourself so that you can live long enough to do those things you believe you have been called to do… love yourself, take care of your health, prioritize your family – wife/husband and children and those that matter to you, protect your physical self… take precautions when the risks are high… instead of leaving early, you will live late… humanity will be better for it. May Tatiana’s soul rest in peace, may her family be comforted from this immeasurable loss.


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