News
We Live in Interesting Times. No, amend that, we are living in explosive times !
From out of nowhere terror reigned down on Paris over the weekend.
Reports now show that terrorists launched attacks brought their trade of misery to several venues in that fine city. Attacks on places where people, ordinary people like us relax and enjoy life at the end of a week.
We all now know that these attacks were not random but carefully planned, the likelihood of more to come is high to extreme.
As I write this news has come out that France has launched “massive” air raids on ISIS targets in Syria, what is going to happen next is anyone’s guess.
I note that Prime Minister John Key has said words to the affect that France’s fight is our fight. What Prime Minister said at the outset of World War 2 that “where Britain goes, we go”?
The world dynamic changed then and I feel that the world dynamic is changing again.
We should be encouraged by President Obama’s words immediately after the outrage “We are reminded in this time of tragedy that the bonds of liberté and égalité and fraternité are not only values that the French people care so deeply about, but they are values that we share. And those values are going to endure far beyond any act of terrorism or the hateful vision of those who perpetrated the crimes this evening”
Liberté, égalité and fraternité are our values too, although we probably express them in slightly different ways and while we are literally at the other end of the world and other end of the risk scale we must be vigilant and dismiss the notion that anything like that won’t happen here in good ol’ NZ.
We must keep on with our endeavours, go about our business and continue to travel and see the world. We must also embrace and welcome our new migrants to Invers, Southland and New Zealand, most will have paid a high price in all respects to come here.
If you have family and friends in Paris or France, we hope that you have contacted them and that they are OK.
Finally, all this brings me back to last Friday, one of those magical days that we haven’t had enough of yet and a wee bit of time spent in the tranquillity and serenity of Queens Park.
Is there a better place to chill out and recharge and just a hop skip and jump from the city centre? Not forgetting the Otepuni Gardens, Anderson Park, Oreti Beach, the list goes on.
Au revoir mon ami.
Mal.