This week has been a tough one. There have been two anniversaries that remind us all how precious life is. 9/11 and the Manchester Dogs Home fire plus Foodbank was difficult.
9/11 is a day I will never forget. I had holiday I had to use up at work so I'd booked the day off but left Teri in nursery so I could get some housework done in peace. I'd just sat down for lunch (cheese sandwich! See I remember every detail!) I put the tv on to watch Neighbours only to see the news was still on. It took me a while to realise what I was seeing. I could see one of the Twin Towers on fire. They were talking about how a plane had hit the tower. At that point there was nothing to say it was anything other than a very sad accident. I sat staring at the scene unable to take it all in. They were talking about how long the hoses would be on the fire engines and what the chances are of people surviving if they were above the fire. All I could think was ' you idiots, there's no way they can put that fire out! The fuel will mean it burns too hot for water and foam hoses won't reach that far'.
The next thing I know live on screen a plane apears in the back ground. It was as if the whole thing was in slow motion. As I type this I can see it in my mind. 14 years on and it's as fresh as the day. The plane seemed to turn and I remember the news presenter said 'Why haven't they shut air space down?' An expert (how you can be an expert of somthing that had never happened before I don't know!) said they'd probably grounded flights nearby but a few planes maybe still in the air and being diverted. He was wrong. The plane wasn't being diverted. It had been hijacked and it hit the second tower with such force it seemed to explode out the other side of the tower.
At this point it was clear it was no accident. One plane, yes. Two? No chance. This was terrorist.
I didn't know what to do. I wanted to talk to someone so I called my friend at work. She said she'd heard about the first plane from a collegue who had just come into the office. He'd heard about it on the radio. When I explained a second plane had hit she told the rest of the office and they decided to go to the electrical shop next door as they had TV's on all the time.
Just as she hung up the first tower came crashing down. It was like a bad horror movie. There were reports of other planes going missing, all countries shut their air space down, guesses of how many had been in the tower. All I could think was, what time did the first plane hit? What time did the second one hit? How long in between? Because that's how long we've got until the second tower goes. Sadly I was right. I sat there counting the minutes down and on cue the tower fell.
Why am I typing all this? Because it was the point the world changed. It showed that no one was safe from the terrorist. They could hit any where any time. I'd grown up with the IRA bombing London but this was bigger than them. So many innocent people were killed in one moment. The Governments decided we had to go to war to 'stop' them. It was a revenge mission that saw the Stock Market nose dive, trust in governments fall and general chaos to start. By going into Iraq for the second time (to be honest if Bush snr had done the job properly the first time we wouldn't of had half of this!) causing instability in the Middle East which in turn has caused the Syrian crisis we've got now. It's something we should never forget. I won't ever forget those events.
The second anniversary this week was the Manchester Dogs Home Fire. (click here for pictures) 150 dogs were killed and several others badly injured because of the actions of 2 young boys. Sadly they were never formally charged with the murders. Personally I think they should of been strung up. What the hell they thought they were doing, their age is no excuse either! They knew what they were doing and I wouldn't be suprised if they did it again.
As my friends all know I'm a big animal lover and I firmly believe those boys should of been charged with murder. Just because they're dogs doesn't mean they felt less pain, nor did they suffer any less than we would. The fact that these boys are out there with new identities makes me sick with anger.
Add to that the number of people who came into the Foodbank because they'd had to choose, school uniform or food? You can see why it's been a tough week!
I've been lucky this year, Teri has left school so I don't have to buy her uniform. I get why schools have uniform and I agree with it. What I don't agree with is schools insisting that you buy their stuff with logos etc on and then they charge you a fortune! Supermarkets do cheap jumpers and shirts but as most schools insist you have their items you can't buy the £2 jumper, you have to buy the £25 one that last half the time the £2 would!
Surely when it gets to the point that some one is going without food just so they can buy their kids uniform we need to say that's enough, STOP. I wish I could say that it was only in my distribution I'd heard this sad story. I spoke to two other distributions and they'd had several people in saying the same thing. It's wrong!
I'm sorry this has become a bit of a rant, but it needs to be said. Yes there are big things wrong in the world we can't change but there are small things we can. What would the schools do if every one turned up in a cheap jumper? Suspend they whole school? Or would they back down and let your kids wear it? Why don't you talk to other parents and see? We all sit there and say 'I can't change.....' How do you know you can't if you don't try??!
Have a look round and see whats wrong in your life/area and work out how you can change it rather than sit and moan about it.
