Al and I were chatting last night about something fairly innocuous, but it got me to thinking. We started by talking about me accidentally “putting my foot in it” with one of the bar staff, making some fairly flippant but humourously intended comment, but of course events had occurred in her life recently that I had no idea about, and what I said was not quite so humourous. But then the mind wanders. You see news reports and stories and so on, reporting bizarre statistics that 18 people every year die of, I don’t know, “spoon-related” injuries. Or being hit by a golf ball. Or any other mysterious and uncommon way of dying. The point being, that you could quite happily be in the canteen/kitchen at work, as someone’s making a cuppa, you make a flippant comment about “hey hey hey, watch out with that spoon” chortle chortle, yet you have no idea that the person stood behind you was the wife of the man who was one of the 18 to die of spoon-related injuries. You see to the common person, that is, anyone who has not been affected by such circumstances, the perspective is not there. There is no frame of reference. It is nothing more than a story. But to each of the 18 people who suffered at the strong end of the spoon, it’s still death. They’re dead. Gone. And to the families of the 18 people, who have to bear the consequences of knowing their loved one died in such crap circumstances, to them it’s not just a story, it’s not a funny statistic – it’s real life. It’s death. It’s pain and heartache and sadness for God knows how long.

The point is – you never know who has been affected by any of the gagillion nasty things that happen in the world today. Take for example, this chick. I took offence at her post, because I actually have been to Tanzania. And yeh, shit happens, but then shit happens everywhere. Christ, she wants to talk about child-skinning in a 3rd world country, what about all the atrocities that happen in his country? But the irony and the point of this post, is that the other stories, she or anyone else rants about, with which I have no emotional attachment, cause me little or no harm. Sure, I can disagree with them. But I won’t really be affected by them.

You never know who or what may or may not be affected by something or anything. Seems pretty obvious to me, but I believe that’s why it’s often prudent to consider things carefully before saying them. But that’s often critical to the wishywashy society we live. Everyone is alwasy striving to be so bloody PC that they daren’t say anything for fear of offending. Can’t do this, can’t do that. Which is a load of bollocks really. I say shit, if people disagree with me then fine. Least I’ve said something.