It’s good to welcome you here today – I hope that by the close you will feel that your valuable time here was invested wisely in observing the genesis of a productive and appreciating asset. And what is that potential asset? 

“Each one of us can do a little to bring some portion of the misery to an end”. So said 1952’s Nobel peace prize winner Albert Schweitzer (*) in his autobiography.

The expression “reverence for life” captures Schweitzer’s philosophy. A polymath, renowned as theologian, musician and philosopher, Albert Schweitzer qualified as a doctor aged 37 years. For over 50 years until 1965, he dedicated himself to work in West Africa as a medical missionary, physician and surgeon in the hospital he founded at Lambaréné, Gabon. He died and was buried there, his grave being marked by a cross he made himself (**)...

Suicide is a conversation stopper. You know this – that’s why you rarely if ever mention it in company. If you were unfortunate enough to lose a relative or close friend to suicide, you wouldn’t advertise this; you know from sad experience that once the S-word is mentioned silence often follows. It’s estimated that up to 60 people including relatives, friends, neighbours, peers and work colleagues are psychologically affected, to a greater or lesser degree in the aftermath of suicide. That’s an awful lot of silence...

Somerset Maugham is credited with summing it all up when, in addressing a friend’s class on English literature, he was asked by a student how to write a novel. Maugham’s answer was: “There are three rules for the writing of a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are.” ...