Life's Journey

  This week many throughout the world are remembering the holocaust of the 2nd World war. Between 1941 and 1945 6 million jews were murdered in attempt to rid the world of  the Jewish people. My dad never spoke a lot about his experiences during the war. Few of his generation did. However, on one occasion he spoke of how he arrived at Belsen and remarked that he could smell the camp before he got anywhere near the place. He could never forget the horror and the tragedy of it all, mans inhumanity to man! No doubt others had smelt the same thing and sensed the vile nature of it all, yet for whatever reason never spoke  of it. Maybe it was through fear, but the horror continued. Many of us are familiar of the book called Anne Franks diary. It was the diary of a Jewish teenager living in Holland. Visitors to Amsterdam can still visit the family home beside the canal and can visualise how this was not any ordinary teenage diary. It was the diary of one who faced the tragedy of...

  I find it interesting to discover how many days are currently specified to highlight something that should be special every day of the year.  Today    is National Hugging Day. This event aims to encourage people to hug family, friends, and close ones more often, as hugs are known to have positive effects on mental health. There is some truth in that. It is a part of being human that we need and desire some form of interaction, some kind of message that says "we care".  This year, unfortunately, hugging is not recommended. Often we do not even recognise others, all that we can see is a mask. The image of the person behind the mask is hard to see, it could be anyone. As for hugging, we cannot get close to anyone. For nearly 2 years it has been impressed upon everyone to keep at least 2 metres distance from each other. Not even a shake of the hand was deemed to be acceptable. It seems to me ironic in these circumstances that instead it has been encouraged to "fis...