Saturday, December 15, 2012

The Newtown Shooting of Sandy Hook Elementary School

My heart goes out to all the parents of the children in Sandy Hook Elementary School.

For those who suffered loses from this tragedy, I know nothing can replace the joy and love which has been taken away from you prematurely.

I can’t even imagine seeing my kids get hurt when falling off the chair. Yet alone, having anymore pain than that.

Since I became a mother, I empathised mothers who go through tragedies and my heart somehow bleeds for them too. I can’t really explain it.

I am in Singapore and the tragedy is in U.S & yet I felt like I wish I could do more to help those parents who lost their child. There is nothing which will make them feel better -  ever. Their lives have been altere - FOREVER ....  But I just want to help in any way I can.

Meanwhile, let’s not forget about those parents who brought home their frightened children who had been forced to go through such horrifying ordeal. This is not fair at any level! Now how many more young kids have to die before they f**king do something about the guns?!

Pardon my language but while America hailed the need for guns to protect themselves, it has been creating more tragedies in the last few years. I don't see any other people in developed countries need guns to protect themselves!!!

The theory is as such, if you have guns available to you to protect yourselves, there are bound to be someone out there who are sick in the head who might abuse this privilege.

However if you do not make it available to ANYONE, nobody can get hurt – at least not through another shooting. Mass killing has been on the rise that many fears that a “copycat” murder may be in plan already.

As we speak, we have kids or adults creating twitter account or blog pages hailing how great the killings are!!! That is just too sick to even be imagined.

A teacher’s son killed his mother on the face, left home(apparently geared with heavy arms) went to the school she taught, went to her class and started a shooting spree ON CHILDREN!!! This could be America’s worst mass school shooting!!

It’s 15th December today. Only 10 days short of Christmas. I could imagine their parents have already anticipated their Xmas gifts under the Xmas tree and told them (probably everyday) that they have to wait till Xmas before they could open their gifts. Like any parents would.These kids probably were in their best behaviour because they wanted Santa to come with their choice of toys! And probably Santa DID put the toys they wanted. All these….. still waiting under that tree…. And on Xmas day, it’ll hit these parents really hard when there are unopened boxes under that tree…. The same boxes which the kids have been shaking and trying to guess the last 2 weeks! My heart bleeds for them ....

It tears my heart to even imagine half the devastation these parents are going through. This certainly do not need to happen again. If some precautions are done.

In this scenario, the shooter apparently has Asperger. While we all know that usually someone who has Asperger can react irrationally, it wouldn’t have been this grief if he didn’t have the option to use a gun.

Guns are used in every action packed movies and shows that signify power and skills. Just imagine Bruce Willis, Mel Gibson, Angelina Jolie, Collin Farrell -who wouldn’t wanna be seen to have such skills like James Bond does.

Among 98 percent of viewers of these movies understand that this is fiction. And that this should not happen in real life. However, having said that, there are 2 percent to would go home, imagining the glory of his death if his name comes out on the paper because he killed people.

OR this 2 percent might think that that would be a way to solve problems. Just kill everyone. Like an escape.

This news hit me hard. I saw Obama’s speech about this tragedy. He is addressing the situation as a parent. And it’s touching to see him reach out and said that his heart is broken. I just want him to know that of all the people in the world, at this instance, he has the most power to change this situation.

Please do something about the ownership of a gun in America. For the sake of the children. For the sake of the future.



Monday, December 10, 2012

Jacintha Saldanha - Will always be our Royal Nurse.

It's a sad,sad news. Jacitha Saldanha ...

When I heard the prank for the first time, first thought that came to me was how did they get through that easily? Apparently Jacintha was sitting in as a receptionist at that time. It was possibly 5:30am and she probably wasn’t expecting anyone to be so bold (or ruthless) to think that that would be a great joke.

The whole world heard it. And for a while, these two DJs celebrated their triumph for being able to be the greatest imposters of Prince Charles and the Queen. Mel & MC  (DJs from a Australian Network) were being their funny self and thought it was ok to impose as the royals. (Why wouldn’t they start with their own president first? Or have they done that as well?)
    
It wasn’t a bad joke until the latest turn around. The person who answered the call( Nurse Jacintha Saldanha) innocently was trying to assist the queen in her quest to see how Kate was doing. Jacintha, answered the call. However when the prank call was put on air all over the world, it was too much for Jacintha.

Jacintha (who seeks solace in doing an excellent job, no less) found that to have people staring or whispered quite obviously about how that was a careless mistake was too overwhelmingly disappointing on herself. Just imagine the thoughts running through her mind before she resorted to suicide. :(

Was it really careless? I don’t think so. Everyone probably think that she shouldn’t have passed the call. But she has so much respect for the Queen that she was more than happy to assist the Queen in every way possible. Without any doubt in her mind, there would be ruthless imposters out there who would do this as pure fun. How would she know?


If the papparazis and the curious journalists haven’t tried that method ever, why would these ordinary DJs think it was ok to be a nosey from right across the globe? Would I feel upset at these DJs if Jacintha is still alive today? I possibly would be since that would mean she will be reprimanded by her boss and also being talked about in the hospital. The repercussion of such joke hasn’t been thought through obviously. If they do much thinking at all.

Nurse Jacintha Saldanha, is loved by everyone. She finds peace and serenity in having being accepted and liked by her peers and her boss. And she has come all the way from India to make a good living for her children and herself. She has worked so hard to come to where she was at that point of her  life.

Jacintha  excelled in being a great loving mother and while she was at work she found soaring pride in doing her best. Her kids are all grown up and she should celebrate her achievements as being a good employee and a great mother but obviously now he couldn’t. She had two kids who love her dearly and have now being left without a mother. Her husband is still trying to get a grip of what is happening. Confusion is an understatement to what he is feeling at the moment. It was supposed to be FOREVER. And while he thought they would grow old together, this incident (which could easily be avoided) had to happen.

While she was in her own premises not bothering anyone,the DJs felt the need to increase their ratings at the price of someone’s job. They didn’t think that she would get into some kind of trouble for passing the phone? Doesn’t it cross their mind the slightest bit? Of course not.

The days following the worldwide incident must have been horrifyingly terrible for Jacintha since she was waiting for the hospital’s reaction against her. Although they claimed they didn’t do anything harsh on her, I’m pretty sure there must be some sort of reprimanding involved since it involved the royals. And for Jacintha, a good girl from a small village (who finds pride in being on the good books and excel in doing a great job) that was a total let-down on herself.

I can imagine the loud whispers which had been going around as she walked through the hallway. I can imagine the gossips which spurred at the staff canteen which quickly halt to a silent the minute she walked in. I could imagine her locker having more than a few notes of reminders of what a disappointment she was for passing the phone. It was a mistake. Get over it. She was excited to be working so closely with the royals. Yes it could have been more stringent. But that was indeed the first time anyone was bold enough to be imposters.

What is the verdict for the two DJ’s? Are they going to be in trouble for what they did? Is there any consequences for this act? Are we teaching our kids that if you are popular in school it’s ok to bully those who are decent and quiet even if it means it would drive them to their death? What message are we sending now?



At the moment, I have seen many articles on Facebook from my fellow Australian relatives and friends asking us to support the DJs and give them a break because they are getting one of the worse backlash ever. Apparently they are getting death threats and they think their lives are in danger. Oh wow. What did you think Jacintha went through?? I didn’t click “LIKE”. I didn’t think it was necessary. One click of a button wouldn’t change the world. And maybe….just MAYBE, that is the only way for these 2 bold & beautiful (or so they thought) to learn about mental bully.

Should they be protected in case the death threats are real? Yes but let them feel the hostility that they get for being so proud for being the biggest imposters. Apparently after apologising, they still went on and joked about the hoax. Are they really sorry about it? I doubt it.

There should be a clause or a BOLD PRINT for someone like them, to know the line that they cannot cross. It’s the same when you are in school there are rules and regulations to follow and you are definitely aware that putting a prank on your school principal will come with a huge punishment. They are off the air for a while apparently. Let’s see for how long that is going to last.

Radio DJ’s should have known that really. But these 2 must have thought that they are so up there (even though I never knew them till this incident happened) that they could do anything they want.

NOT!!

They forgot who the royals are, I suppose. Consequences for their actions should follow. I haven’t seen or heard any other radio station bold enough to be imposters of the royals. Shame of them.

No “LIKE” click from me definitely.

For Jacintha Saldanha’s family, I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. It shouldn’t have ended this way.

For her 2 kids, there are a lot of bad people out there, it’s just really bad that it happened to your lovely mom. Having said that, there’s usually only a handful of rotten eggs in a big basket of wonderful great ones. Be strong & make your mommy proud.

For Jacintha’s husband, thank you for being strong for the kids….Condolences from my family.

Big hug……. Rest In Peace dear Jacintha….