The Weekend the World Turned Blue

I find it funny when someone is asked if they watch the news and they say no because it's all depressing and there is never anything uplifting about it. I'm sorry but that wasn't in the mission statement when Sir Trevor MacDonald tapped his first pile of news on the desk all those years ago. Surely nobody can think that the world is a perfect place where only good things happen but to be able to accept that that is not true yet still not watch the news is simply a crime. News is what drives our days: it gives us things to talk about and debate, it provides us with a view of what the world is really like and for this reason it keeps us firmly in reality. The news should be watched, listened to, read and digested by everyone in the world because we learn from it as much as we create it. That 'reality' that I mentioned before was firmly bolted onto everyone's conscious at the weekend with the terrible news of the tragic murders in Norway and then with the sad news that Amy Winehouse lost her life. People should watch the news even if these kinds of thing are prevalent - there is no point in ignoring it because things are always going to be like that.

The massacre in Norway was something that I woke up to on Saturday morning and it took a while for me to realise just what I was being told. It doesn't bear thinking about what the people on that island went through and what the families of the ones that were murdered are going through and will go through for the rest of their lives.  I read some articles about it in the newspapers on Sunday which gave brief accounts from people that were on the island and managed to escape and I had my heart in my mouth as I read them. Some of them had to pretend to be dead and one person that had to use one of their dead friend's bodies to protect themselves - just terrible. I have a feeling that the aftermath of this tragedy will be bitter and will carry on for a long time as that creep, psycho murderer proclaims war on Western democracy.

That harrowing news story was followed on Saturday night by the sad news that the highly talented but flawed singer Amy Winehouse had died in her London flat. People can say what they like about her personality and the problems that she had with drink and drugs but she was a truly outstanding talent - one of the best that the UK has ever produced. I never really took time to listen to her music for a prolonged period of time but as I'm writing this post I've got her music on in the background and it is better than I ever thought it was. Her voice is very soothing and her lyrics are dark and mysterious - a lethal mix when it comes to selling albums and singles. For a very good look back at her roller-coaster life I suggest that you read this article that a friend of mine linked on Facebook from the weekend newspapers. Very good writing and a much more in depth look at a life that people think they know everything about - myself included before I read that piece.

I think I've got my point across now that it is important to watch and read the news because that way you get a more in depth point of view on what is happening in the world around us. It might be (sadly) more often than not negative news but we have to take the rough with the smooth. There is no point in kidding ourselves that everything is all rosy because it just isn't and never will be.

Thanks for reading,

Martin