Reflections

The national and international events of the week that ended on the 23rd of July seemed to involve me in so many emotions that I did not feel like putting pen to paper [or rather fingers to keyboard] blog wise until now.

Of course, at the time I blogged on the Parliamentary 'hearings' where Rupert & James Murdoch and Rebecca Brooks 'gave' evidence. ['Gave' is in inverted commas because 'giving' is not an action that I entirely associate with this trio] This week more evidence has emerged that seems to suggest that maybe they were, if not withholding the truth, then certainly economical with it. But by this week I was beginning to feel that the world was spinning on its axis widdershins and who knew what would happen next.

The bomb blast in Oslo and massacre on Utoya island in Norway was something that I didn't feel I could write about apart from a brief dedication. In fact the two Norwegian events left me - like so many people across the world - so stunned that I really did not want to listen to the news or get involved in anything that smacked of 'current affairs' for quite a few days. Cowardly? Shock? Whatever, I did watch part of the Peace rally and memorial on Monday evening, not wanting to but feeling if I didn't I would somehow be denying the awfulness of what had happened.

One man caused that much misery and awfulness. Whether in the name of religion or politics; whether because he was deranged or sane; whether he had links with other groups or was acting on his own, his actions reverberated around the world. It made the high drama/soap opera of the world of News International receed into the world of make believe for a little while.

Many people have found this a reason to reflect this week. And like the picture above of the ripples in water [taken from Geraint Smith with thanks] the actions of both the Norwegian gunman/bomber and those at News International continue to ripple and spread across the world.

On Keats' gravestone in Rome he asked to have inscribed "Here lies one whose name was writ in water" suggesting that fame is as fleeting as trying to write one's name in water. Lets' hope that whilst the ripples of their actions spread the names of the gunman [the reason I am not repeating it here] and the Murdochs are also 'written in water'. But hope too that their victims are never forgotten because we must all try to ensure that such things cannot occur again - in their names.