I did not know Kayla Mueller, the American aid worker and ISIS hostage whose death was confirmed by her family this week. But like many people who read her letter to her family, I wish I had. And in some ways I feel I have.
In my two decades working in the humanitarian field responding to conflict, I have met some incredibly brave individuals who poured themselves into the work they did to build up the societies in which they were working. But at the same time, I have watched our ability to enter into places of need begin to disappear.
One by one I have seen cities I love crumble. Daily life becomes intolerable. But the most painful thing has been watching our physical space and mobile access to do humanitarian and conflict mitigation shrink. Long gone are the days when the Red Cross, a press badge or the U.N. flag were perceived as neutral.
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