Happy New Year

I am vexed,
there is this news article from the South Island of New Zealand...were the hikers from NZ? I hope not, I cannot imagine any of the hundreds of trampers I have met in the NZ bush ever behaving in this manner, it is disturbing.

then there is this, 15 years ago I wept with anger and horror at the genocide of the Kurds, years later I met a family from Kuwait who had lost everyone in their families, EVERYONE, nanas, grandpops, aunties, uncles, cousins, and the horror, the fear...and now they are both teachers, raising their 6 children (some born in refugee camps) to be Kiwi kids, I still have the pictures those kids drew for me the last time I saw them, the last day I worked as their parent's case manager, so full of hope for the future, maybe they have had more babies since, their motivation was so strong that their family would not be removed from the earth.

Saddam Hussein was a monster, and I think that, probably he deserved to die, that death was the only solution to the ongoing problem he presented, that if anyone deserves a punishment of death - it was he, we all know what he did, there is no question as to his guilt.
But...does his death by hanging diminish us? does it diminish the hangman? I am not talking from a Judeo-Christian standpoint, but from the standpoint of a Mum who realised that you don't teach a kid not to hit - by hitting, I do not feel that anything is gained by the death penalty, and that there is a facet of innocence lost.

I feel that I do not know my question, I most certainly do not know the answer, maybe I would feel differently about the death penanlty if someone harmed one of my children, maybe I would be rejoicing now if I were someone harmed by Hussein, I know that if the death penalty is warranted by anyone - he warranted it, but I still feel a deep sense of unease.

The house has been packed and moved, and will set sail in just over a week, the cleaners came in, did 3 hours work and left (2 of them) for $350. I was LIVID! no one was answering the phone at the removal company, but they got an earful, and will do so in person on tuesday. The floors were washed, the carpets vacuumed, the bathrooms and kitchen wiped over...thats it! no stove, no walls, no windows...I was so angry, I had explained that the most important thing was the walls...grrrrrrrr.

However, that was not enough to dampen our enthusiasm, we shopped big time for makeup, underwear and a couple of items of clothing for me (all will bcome clear in time) and shirts and power ties for Flash, had a great lunch down at The Rocks, and dinner with Maria at Red Chilli in Chinatown mmm Sizzling chicken! came home and collapsed replete on our airbeds ( we are doing it tough in order to be here for the New Years party on our roof - it is an institution!) Today Flash and I finished our shopping, and had the car groomed in readiness to hand it back. I scored at Dymocks with "Christmas Stockings" for $5, and "Yarns to dye for" for $10 (which seemed a bit strange because it is pretty recent...but who am I to argue?) Not that I am knitting much at present, it is difficult with only an airbed for furniture! I don't know what we would do without the laptop and 5 disc set of the first series of Boston legal.

Wishing you all a very happy New Year!