A small collection of flowers and candles mark the spot in West London where Piotr Mikiewicz was murdered by a petty thief stealing a computer from a nearby house. Piotr, 40 years old, originally from Poland, was a streetsweeper, much valued by both his colleagues and the residents. Nichiren says- “Life as a human being is hard to sustain— as hard as it is for the dew to remain on the grass. But it is better to live a single day with honor than to live to 120 and die in disgrace.”

But what value have some put on Poitr’s life?  A bunch of supermarket flowers reduced from £3-00 to 69p?  Life is the best thing we have.- lets not forget that.  Again, as Nichiren says, “More valuable than treasures in a storehouse are the treasures of the body, and the treasures of the heart are the most valuable of all.”  Piotr died in honour.  Poitr left treasures of his heart for everyone for eternity- lets honour that as we also honour our own treasures of the heart.