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@panda12 wrote:
@j_in_france wrote:
Three young Jewish children shot dead as well as the father of two of them, three french people killed, an unarmed American teenager killed by police in Florida, 10 people killed in an attack on a bus in Syria.
Thousands die each day all over the world. In some cases it is due to circumstances as above but many die to infected water supplies, treatable medical conditions or simple malnourishment.
Yes I believe it is a good thing Merah is no longer able to kill others as that appeared to be his soul purpose once he had started but let us try not to focus just on the extremes we hear in the news but of the day to day deaths that occur in other countries
Yes I agree with you. One thing I don’t think the World is prepared for though is an hysterical, irrational Teapot sprouting hypocritcal shyte.
Actually panda I was responding to Mrs Teapot’s initial post and although I do not agree with all her sentiments I do respect her views about Merah which is the topic she posted about.
Abuse comes in many forms and shapes.
There are some who criticise the unemployed, the people who are here all day (ummmhow do they know people are here all day?), others for the sexuality even if they make up the stories.
The sad thing is that abuse can not be defined as being this or that but is felt in many different ways by many people.
We have all seen the idiots who come in and proclaim such and such a female is a man. Simple throw away line but really a nasty form of abuse. We see the people who pop in and copy and paste a few lines several times then run only to return with a different name and do it again.
Then we see the people who want to get information about others to use against them.
A simple put down can often be far more hurtful for the person receiving it than the person doing it realises.
Engage brain before mouth.
Three young Jewish children shot dead as well as the father of two of them, three french people killed, an unarmed American teenager killed by police in Florida, 10 people killed in an attack on a bus in Syria.
Thousands die each day all over the world. In some cases it is due to circumstances as above but many die to infected water supplies, treatable medical conditions or simple malnourishment.
Yes I believe it is a good thing Merah is no longer able to kill others as that appeared to be his soul purpose once he had started but let us try not to focus just on the extremes we hear in the news but of the day to day deaths that occur in other countries
Being there when someone takes their final breathes can be a surreal experience.
My father had suffered from prostrate cancer for a few years which he kept to himself and my mother, though we knew something was not right.
At the time I was working in Maastricht in the south of Holland, driving over on a sunday evening and back on a friday night. One particular evening after I had worked during the day I received a phone call from Helen to come home because it was near the end for my father. For some reason I had not had an alcoholic drink that evening so I set off soon afterwards. The three and a half hour drive to Calais was a blur and so was the ferry crossing as it was before the tunnel opened. I managed to sleep a bit on the ferry but on the M20 I was starting to fall asleep so had to stop at South Mimms and grab a few winks.
Feeling a bit more awake I then drove to near Banbury to the hospice. Getting there at about 7am my mothert met me to say my father had had a good night and not to worry but go home and get some rest. No sooner had I driven the 30 minutes home and collapsed into bed I received a phone call from the hospice to return as it would not be much longer.
On returning my father was heavily drugged to alleviate the pain and was not concious to what was happening around him. The next couple of hours passed quickly and my mother was very strong as she knew and expected what was going to soon happen, and she was the first to realise he had left us.
Knowing the only result was inevitable is not easy but the dignity which was accorded my father by the hospice was incredible. Sadly my mother died in a hospital in a way that was nowhere near the same and her passing was scary for her though sadly also inevitable too.
I personally look at funerals as a celebration of someone’s life and though sad should also be joyous. Saying all that, both my parents had lived full lives but feeling the same when people die young especially for parents of children who die must be incredibly hard.
I have to agree it is a very sad letter but it is, as was said in the letter, possibly a generational thing.
The writer says he is 52 years old so he would be a child of parents who went through the Second World War, who would in turn have been children of parents who went through the First World War.
We are the fortunate generation who have not been through major wars like that and are now able to react differently. Fathers going away for years to fight and coming back (or not) emotionally scared, mothers left behind with no news for months or even years dreading the bad news telegram. Showing any emotion during those periods must have been so difficult as it was probably easier to just shut down any expression of love in case it backfired.
My grandparents and parents were never able to show the affection they undoubtedly felt which we are now able to show our children these days.
@duwpin wrote:
anc most of your threads die a death luv
most threads die a death eventually and this one is a good one despite some trying to kill it
jen_jen wrote:panda12 wrote:jen_jen wrote:Ummm…the missionaries did not respect the historical views of the countries they moved to, they imposed their views, as have Christians throughout the ages.And let’s not talk about how a lot of ex-pats behave when they move abroad…
I agree with you, the British Empire certainly did not respect the views, cultures or traditions of the countries that were conquered.
However, should we still look at what happened in the past to justify what is happening today?
If so, where and when (if at all) will it all end?
I doubt we’ll ever achieve a state where everyone’s a winner.
You don’t need to look to the past, you can still see it in the present.
Go to any country, not just the UK, and find the areas where the ex-pats of other countries congregate. You’ll find it hard to tell whether you’re still in that country as each little group of expats demands the things that they used to have at home and to be allowed to dress and behave as they did at home, regardless of the culture and traditions of the country that they have moved to. No it’s not all expats, but a large proportion and it’s not just the expats from the UK.
Many berate supermarkets and shops that have a high immigrant population and stock foods from that population’s homeland, then the same people go on their self-catering holidays abroad and go to the local supermarkets and stock up on the brands they recognise, Heinz baked beans, PG Tips and so on, complaining if they can’t get their favourite brands. Many berate people who live in the UK and dress differently to them for cultural or religious reasons, then go on holiday abroad and complain that they couldn’t go topless on the beach or weren’t allowed into a church because they were wearing shorts. So many people want people who come to “our country” to “be like us” and “respect our traditions”, yet so few will go abroad and “be like them”.
Where and when will it all end? When we can all accept that we are all different, that no person’s path is more right or wrong than the next person’s, when we can recognise our differences and celebrate them rather than finding them a reason for distrust, when we can all adopt an attitude of live and let live and really mean it. Unfortunately I can’t see that happening in my lifetime.
I have to agree with what you have posted about ex-pats.
Being ex-pats we feel that we are in a minority though. The reason we moved to France was because we liked the French lifestyle and where possible we have steered clear of the ex-pat community. In a way this has been helped by our kids who were 14 and 11 when we moved here and made many friends through school and we have met many people through their friends and parents of their friends.
One of the things we liked when we came to France on holiday was being able to sample the local cuisine, in fact this evening we are having Tartifilette, a very French dish. We are enjoying the Raymond Blanc series where he visits different regions and cooks the local specialities. Also through many of our French friends we have been introduced to many of the customs, drinks and dishes from this area.
There is an English shelf in our local supermarket and an English shop nearby but we have found that there are usually alternatives available amongst the French products. The only thing we can’t do without is English teabags and friends coming over keep us well supplied with those.
We find it very sad that in our commune there is a large British community where the majority cling together and make no effort to integrate into French life or even learn the language and this can sadly create an us and them attitude.
lol we avoid the ex-pat cliques like the plague but know what you mean
exactly – you only have to look at the number of missionaries to various countries and often a lot of commonwealth countries in the past
what the responses say is perhaps more interesting – they both understood the sentiments behind what you were trying to say
