LOVE BEATS HATE

What an absolutely awful week it has been with the air tragedy in the Ukraine and ongoing bloodshed in the MiddleEast. I find myself deeply effected by all that is happening, especially when photos of young children are shown. The three young children who died when the plane was shot down lived in the same suburb my girls do. Their grandfather who perished with them, taught at the same school I did. They are the flimsiest of connections yet strong enough to remind us that these were real people with real lives like our own. This is not happening on your favourite soapie. This is real.

I remember the many times in the last eight years when I worried about death. Being diagnosed with cancer will guarantee you sleepless nights worrying if you'll be around to see your children's milestones. Those thoughts are still raw and I'm finding that the passage of time has not made them any less painful, even though I know I'm now cancer free. In recent times the worry about our daughter's condition was also too painful to bear. Many, many nights awake in pure fear have permanently upset my sleep cycle, which is why I'm writing this at a quarter to three in the morning. But it all pales into insignificance when I think of the parents who lost all three children at once. How do you come back from that? How do you continue to live after that?

And yet the answer comes surprisingly from the parents of the children themselves, when they tell the world that their love for their children is greater than any hate they could feel for the people who brought down the plane. Love beats hate. Good beats bad. And from that I suppose we can learn. 

A blog I read earlier this week ( A life less frantic)  quoted the words of the late Mahatma Gandhi, ," Be the change you wish to see in the world". In other words start with your own actions to remove the word hate and the action of hate from our lives. Her words made me think hard ;
I hate Mondays - on most peoples statuses every Monday...not mine!
I hate this and that part of my body when looking in the mirror... a lot of women are guilty here.
I hate the guy who slapped one of my favourite footballers ( whoa it's a game!).
I hate this weather
And the list goes on! You get the picture anyway. There are so many little things we can do to change our culture in this regard. Please find some time to read  the excellent blog July 21 A Life less Frantic. For some reason I can't seem to post a link but I'm sure you can google it!

On the home front things are quiet and steady and that's just how I like it. The husband told me he was worried that I was turning into a recluse the other day, as I hadn't ventured out of the house in two days. The sheer joy of being a recluse after the hectic 12 months we've had can not be put into words.

My FED ( favourite eldest daughter) is doing very well. This week we head back for a checkup and to map out the remainder of her treatment. Yes there will be more treatment but the urgency has dropped quite dramatically and God willing will continue to do so. This Monday ( drum roll please) SHE IS GOING BACK TO UNIVERSITY!!!

And finally thank you to those who encouraged me to send my manuscript off to a publisher. It's not something I would ever have done by myself and now we will never speak of it again...unless of course it's successful!

Till next time xxx...