The result of this carelessness is a hefty (and growing) legal bill for litigation that could have been avoided.
In one account, cited by Grigson, the tortoise died "in consequence of the carelessness of a labourer in the garden, who, for a trifling wager, dug it up from its winter retreat, and neglected to replace it".
As philosophy, it is a powerful reminder of the fickleness of circumstance, the role of fate, the consequences of carelessness, professionalism under pressure and the transience of life.
At the very least, the accounts of the Americans and the Afghans involved in the investigation offer a parable of the dire consequences of carelessness about Afghan values, despite the cultural training required for most American service members serving in Afghanistan.
While very funny at times, it is concerned at heart with the consequences of carelessness — of failing to pay attention to, or fight for, those one loves — and the random, out-of-the-blue events that can abruptly torpedo or transform a life.
Fein further defended her team's handling of the crime scene by discrediting the importance of this carelessness.
Once the results of this carelessness became impossible to deny by the late 1960s, a depressingly predictable saga ensued of buck-passing, stonewalling and official obfuscation.
