From Sadness in Africa To Royal Joy in Great Britain to International Revelry........What a time it has been for the world I am in
I have not written for a long time.
My world has been hindered by my own life. So I chose to go on a Sabbatical to finish some things that needed to be finished in my life.
During this time of inactivity in networking through the blog we have seen some interesting days in this world I live in.
In these past weeks there has been so much death and destruction and unrest in Africa, especially those places in close ranks to the Middle East/Arab Nations, that it has sickened the world how many lives have been taken through Genocide throughout these countries-killing average folks who decided to rebel against their Tyrannical Leaders and plead with the world to help them reclaim their lives, for the sake of their dead and lost innocent Friends, Neighbours, Mothers, Fathers, Brothers, and Sisters.
As North Americans sat in the comforts of their homes to watch on TV so many folks in other Countries fighting with their hands, for their lives, with their children at their sides we thought WE would not be touched by horror this month. We sat comfortable in our living rooms eating snacks and hooked into CNN and Anderson Cooper 360 watching the devastation, we could not even predict what happened next.
Storms came through North America. Tracked through the Southern, and South Eastern US causing death and destruction as tornado after tornado touched down in Alabama, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Tennessee killing scores of people, flattening cities.
At the end of the month we saw a proverbial sun ray shining on the sadness as the world waited in anticipation of the British Monarchy Royal Wedding of Prince William Wales ( the grandson of the British Queen Elizabeth) to Catherine Middleton on Friday April 29th.
I was excited about the wedding. Canada is part of the British Monarchy, and the the wedding of the future King is a huge deal for us. What I never expected was that so many countries around the world were really looking to this wedding to uplift them from the sorrows of the times. Every Canadian and US channel had the wedding live on TV. The Official Royal Family Website created an official Royal Wedding site that was going to live stream video from inside Westminster Abbey and along the whole procession route. Really showing us the Monarchy is moving in track with the times and using the networking to its advantage. The prediction was that 2.1 billion people would get to see the wedding.
.....And WOW what a spectacle it was! Just amazing. It was the best world celebrated party we thought we would ever have.
No sooner did we settle that day than bleak news came out of the United States again. More tornadoes swiped the landscape of the same states again losing more lives. It felt like a blind slap in the face for North Americans. Once again we were worrying for friends visiting and living in the US. Canada and USA share one of the longest(or perhaps the longest) borders in the world. Canadians travel to the Southern States like Europeans travel to Spain or Turkey for winter vacations. Americans come up to Canada to camp and fish and watch sports, as well as visit The Big Cities where the folks are unusually friendly. We are like relatives. There is always a push and a pull in the relationship, but in the end we come together and help if help is needed.
When the US suffers, so do we here in Canada and visa-versa. And nothing more significant to explain this relationship could there be, than our dealing with The War In Afghanistan. "The War On Terror".
In two days from the Wedding Watched and Celebrated Around The World, and the Week of Tornado devastation in the USA and in the Month Africa turned upside-down we were gob-smacked once again by the news from the US Presidential White House: "Osama Bin Laden is Dead!"
Once again we sat listening to the News on TV and Al Jazeera News on the internet as details began to come out little by little....awaiting the President Barak Obama to make his official statement. The each country waited for their leaders to make their statement.
The leader of the greatest international terrorist association. Public enemy #1 for almost 20 years of terror against world nations. Osama Bin Laden was killed in a covert American operation. The operation started in August last year and ended with his death on Sunday May 1st.
How do I feel about the news of Bin Laden's death? Relieved. I took a calm breath and smiled sensing that I may not hear another name of another member of our Army loses their life in Afghanistan. I know it isn't possible to ensure safety, because the US certainly pissed off several thousand members of Bin Laden's forces, and there is a great risk they will retaliate, but none-the-less I feel more at ease.
I have shed tears of sadness over strife in Africa, I have shed tears of Joy for the Royal Wedding and I shed Tears of Sadness for the South Eastern United States.....Then tears of Joy reacting to the words, "Osama Bin Laden is dead!"
(please also do not forget in March the world was devastated over the loss and destruction as a result of the worst Earthquake Japan has known, followed by a horrific Tsunami that wracked the land and severely damaged a Nuclear Power Plant's reactors causing a historic Nuclear accident putting Japan at risk of radiation exposure, causing terrible risk to the lives of its citizens, in the wake of the deaths from the earthquake and tsunami.)
As I reflect on all that has happened over these past months it almost feels like the earth has gone through a personal development moment in its time and it has forced humanity as a whole
to get a different sense of Self. I don't think that I ever thought I would have ever see a day when the psyche of the world was so effected by events in my lifetime.
