Friday 6 December 2013

I don't know

The death of Nelson Mandela has been announced. Sometimes though, I wish the news stations would not try and speak for 'all of us' in their sweeping statements of "the whole world will be in mourning at the death of Nelson Mandela, or the whole of Britain has been affected by this, that or the other" etc.

Such events are truly sad and if you are unlucky to be the ones caught up in it, devastating. I admit, while the news reports were on, I felt sad but as great a man as Mandela was, I didn't know him, he didn't know me or mine and I am not devastated. I do note his passing and wonder what effect (good or bad) it might have on those who considered him "Father of a nation". I wonder if his legacy of a non-violent way of changing thinking will survive him, I really hope so. South Africa appears to be a better country for it.

I don't know whether feeling this way is how you get as you start to get older or not. Maybe the older you get, you have seen 'it all' and nothing really amazes or fazes you unless it is personal. The great, the good and salt of the earth people come and go, friends and family likewise.

When we are out on our walks, we discuss all manner of things, both good and positively bad. We dissect them, say what we think about it (both good and bad) and move on. Maybe it is some kind of invisible protective shield that surrounds our thinking in such circumstances, helping us move through troubled and sad times. Who knows.

I was, oddly enough, affected by Princess Diana's death, not so much because of the hoo hah on the news and the outpouring of grief but in a more personal way, memories of the death of my own mother when I was a child, re-surfaced and caught me unaware's. I don't think I had really mourned her, I certainly did that day.

We are such diverse and strange people, aren't we?


15 comments:

  1. I agree, I have always said that good people die every day, just because they are not public figures does not diminish the effect their death has among the people who were close. To me the Feeding Frenzy of the press and the "wanna be's" diminishes the death of anyone.

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    1. Very true. Can you imagine how long the news would be if every good and deserving person were on it! The press drive me mad at times.

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  2. You dont have to know a someone personally to understand that their contribution to our world left it a better place. He was imprisoned, mostly in solitary confinement, for 27 years for his stand against apartheid. All this may not have happened in your little corner of the world but what happens to one person affects us all.
    You may be mistaking sentimentality for honest respect and giving credit where it is due.
    You are right about the elderly having a lack of empathy.......it is all part of getting old.

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    1. Hello Lizzie, that is the good thing about life in general, we are all free to make of it what we will.

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    2. Hmmm - Lizzie, I think we must have been reading two different blog posts! I don't see any lack of respect or not giving credit in this post.

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  3. Dc I could have written this post myself. I also find it very irritating the way the media latch onto these events to make a real meal - or do I mean a dog's dinner - over it, bringing in any old person to 'make a story' when really the story has been told over a life time. It cheapens and demeans the person who has died and what they did.Hours and hours of waffle. Just leave me to my thoughts and personal emotions, thank you!

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    1. And so say I! I think it is the days and days of digging for every little 'gem' of information is what makes it all so irritating.

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  4. It's difficult to avoid the feeding frenzy. We tuned in to check the cricket scores this morning and even the sports news channel was full of people with anecdotes about him.
    I have read and heard some ridiculous statements too - those who thought he ' would go on and on', or who are ' shocked by his death'. Quite how educated people think that anyone will live forever or are shocked by the death of a very sick 95 year old is beyond me.

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    1. DB commented on how these news reports must already be prepared as they are so quick to appear. Cricket - blimey, but I guess we aren't playing any worse over there than the Aussies did over here:)

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  5. I completely agree with you Dc. X

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  6. I have to admit to consciously ignoring the news on most days. I have enough to concern me in my own family life without worrying about all and sundry out there in the rest of the world, especially most of the so-called-celebrities. A blinkered view perhaps. I do have empathy with the plight of others and I'm not unfeeling. We give regularly to charities and generally donate when there's been a disaster, but in most cases there is nothing I can do about it and being particularly sensitive a terrible news report first thing in the morning can upset me for the rest of the day so I prefer not to know. My head-in-the-sand approach can be difficult to maintain at times since DH watches every news report going if he can. What is it with men in particular needing to know what is going on elsewhere in the world every minute of the day? My dad was exactly the same. Luckily he often watches on his laptop so I don't have to see. I also got very upset over Princess Diana but more because of her being so young and a mother and thinking about her poor boys left behind.

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    1. We watch the news 'magazine' programmes rather than the 24 hour news channel for the same reason. Neither of us wants to hear things over and over. Now today, on newswatch, people are complaining about the coverage of Mandela over local tidal problems washing peoples houses into the sea.

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    2. My dad was the same Helen. He studied every word of a daily newspaper, and when he came home from work he sat with his dinner on his lap listening to every word of the Tonight programme, 7pm BBC, presented by Cliff Michelmore. We all had to sit in silence or go out and play.

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  7. I was more upset about the old soldier or RAF veteran who had no one to go to his funeral. I agree, people get themselves so worked up about someone they don't know. I'd rather they took the flowers they buy to a lonely alive person in a home or hospital. X

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