Thoughts for the day...

So todays post will be, as suggested in the title, more of a random collection of my thoughts for the day rather than a straightforward 'blog with a purpose'. And so it begins...

First off: Tragedy. More specifically the fact that the world is seemingly teeming with it at the mo. Or at least its more readily obvious to me personnally at this time.

One the one hand there is current tragedy. First off the hurricane which has annhilated the Gulf states of the US and is looking like being one of the worst disasters to strike the US in its history. And with every news report I see, more and more death and destruction. Trully frightening.. Secondly the stampede in Iraq which has killed some 1,000 people. Again terrifying.

And then, there is past tragedy. I happended to come across a documentary last night on BBC 2 named 'The Children of Beslan'. Essentially this was a programme interviewing the surviving children of the Beslan siege of 2004. Beslan, if you will remember, was a tiny Russian town near war-torn Chechnya, that became the centre of the world's attention for all the wrong reasons. Specifically a group of Chechen terrorists captured and held hostage hundreds of people in the local school, the age range of the hostages being anything from 4 to 84. And then, after bombs were detonated and fierce gun battles erupted, some 300 people lost their lives, many of them small children. Those children who survived spent the program re-living their experiences and it was tragic and chilling and... just sad.

And then to round off the evening I ended up watching another documentary, this time about the UN General who led a tiny number of UN forces during the Rwandan genocide. The programme centered on re-living the harrowing and horrendous slaughter through the eyes of the General, a man who felt he was betrayed by the UN and the Western powers (I would say with considerable justification) and by the end I just wanted to cry. Trully awful...

Secondly: Mates. My mates. I went to the pub with one of them tonight and we ended up talking in-depth about two other mutual friends who, since a New Years party this year, have, well lets say they have issues with each other. And its pretty bad - their issues have divided a group of friends that have been close throughout high school and beyond. As such it has prompted a lot of discussion on how we as a group of friends can rectify the situation. But tonight, as my mate waffled on at length, it suddenly dawned on me that the only solution to the problem is Christ. Thats it. The only true solution. And yet I'm too much of a coward to do anything about it.

Thirdly: Rain. I like the rain. I mean not in a 'I want to stand outside in the rain for hours on end' sense, and I have an equal liking for the sun. But I do appreciate the benefits falling water can bring to our world. For one it brings (at least in the UK) a seemingly endless supply of fresh water. Splendid!! Secondly, for me personnally, it brings relief from hot, muggy days (something my body finds difficult to cope with), and it can also allow me to feel like an 8 year old again. Let me explaing briefly - when you're 8 and playing with your mates its perfectly acceptable to go outside in the rain and mess around, have a laugh etc. But when you 'grow up' and reach adulthood to go out into the rain when you don't need to is considered a sign of being 'irresponsible' or 'insane'. However I beg to differ. Today I went for a walk in the rain and it was wonderful. I wouldn't do it again for a while (i'm not that crazy) but it was fun.