Leon Lock is one of the most intelligent and urbane men of my acquaintance- a gentleman in every sense of the word, whose friendship I’ve had for nearly 20 years 
since the time we were doctoral students in the department of the history of art at University College London. Since 2002, Dr Lock has been the director of the Low Countries Sculpture Society in Brussels, itself an expression of the sophistication and civility that marks arguably the most civilized region of our troubled planet.
It is contrasted with this that we witness the tragedy that befell Brussels this morning, wrought with an eye toward the commission of a barbarous act that sets the pace of humanity back 1,000 years. With Europe’s open borders an expression of an attempt to overcome ethnic divisions that predate history, this act of terrorism will doubtless work to slow, if not stifle, a model for liberality the entire world should emulate. Indeed, the present ‘Brexit’ debate and those favoring it in the United Kingdom were certainly given impetus by what happened today.
Sadly, it is not only the Boris Johnson’s of the world who seek insularity as the cure for all international ills, but here at home, Donald ‘Torquemada’ Trump is renewing calls for the use of torture to prise secrets from terrorists. And with this, we must all realize, the terrorists have won. While we may seek to foil terrorist plotting, its response by a benighted few may succeed in prising from the rest of us not just our liberties but the better angels of our nature.
In 2005, I was in London’s West End at the time of bombings. Indeed, the bus that blew up was just around the corner from Gordon Square- the heart of University College London. I remember well, with the consequent cessation of public transportation, walking back from Bond Street along Bayswater Road, returning to our flat in Notting Hill. Keith and I shared this walk with thousands of others, and we were struck at the time with the doggedness of it, the determination to literally and figuratively put one foot in front of another, getting on with the business of life.
I pray that Leon Lock is unhurt by today’s terrible events, but likewise pray for those who are not. But I also pray that the better world the best people in the world seek to create is not forever scuttled.
Addendum:
Leon has emailed to say he’s fine, but his office on Trierstraat is only 20 metres, a mere stone’s throw, from the bombed Maelbeek metro station.