Friday 21 March 2014

You couldn’t make up stuff like this. I know I wouldn't dare.

Or you could but it would be shot down in flames as being far-fetched and unrealistic.   Has the world gone mad?  All I know is that people, even people who purport to find the news depressing, have been glued to their seats watching the TV news as it unfolds. 

I feel quite sorry for the press – generally if there is one big story it’s a lot but this month we have three 1) the continuing Ukraine – Crimea – Russia saga, with Putin appearing to thumb his nose at the west, who are making paper gestures.  Where this could lead is too frightening to contemplate.

Then of course 2) the baffling question of flight MH307.   Was there a catastrophe on board?  Was it hijacked?  Was the pilot making a political statement?  Was it taken by aliens, is it under the Indian Ocean? Or possibly it’s now in a parallel universe, having gone through a worm hole (seriously I have both heard this one and read of It, though how tongue in cheek I wouldn’t like to say).    But the families are getting more and more desperate.  I know if it were my family I would be praying that the plane had been taking by hijackers and was now in Pakistan or Afghanistan or somewhere, because that way there would be a chance, however slight, that the passengers have survived.   But as the days go by this hope must be slowly fading.   My thoughts and prayers, as well as those of most of the world are with them. But is seems it might be years till the full story is known.

And 3) here is South Africa, we have the eyes of the world on the Oscar Pistorius trial.  This one is really over the top.  Beautiful young couple, him a world icon, both a Paralympics and Olympics sporting star, her a rising TV celebrity, as well a law graduate.  Then another St Valentine’s Day Massacre.   You couldn’t make up a story like this.   Now the South African judicial system is on trial too, being judged by the world, to see if one of our icons can received a fair trial.  I know the SA police are stretched (what police force isn’t?) but generally I think they’re giving  a good account of themselves.  I didn’t expect to find the nitty gritty of the court case so fascinating (perhaps I should have, being a life long fan of legal fiction) but I do.  When the court is in session I am glued to my chair, waiting only for the commercial breaks to cross over to the BBC news/CNN/Sky News to see how the other dramas are panning out. 
 
I don’t know how much longer we can take all this excitement.  Though when it’s all over I am sure we will find our usual fare of corruption, local politics, gang and drug warfare, just a little dull.  As I said perhaps the world really has gone mad.  And what do we learn from it?  Don’t trust Putin.  Avoid flying (easier said that done when one’s family lives half way across the world).   And the whole gun culture is really dangerous, especially in the hands of a loose cannon – but we knew that anyway, didn’t we?

Till next timeJ