April 18, 2007

SINGAPORE

Bad Taste by the Strait Times, and Crime Strikes a Friend

While reading Singapore's primary newspaper, The Strait Times, I came across the foldout show to the right. There are several articles highlighting the grim nature of the Virginia Tech shooting, along with an ill-thought out advertisement pronouncing "Life is great!" Such a proclamation, along with a cheerful thumbs up, is horribly positioned and should have been caught by the editors. It is not rocket science to notice such a potentially offensive error, and the newspaper should exercise more common sense with delicate topics like mass murder.

I wrote the Strait Times a letter pointing out their lack of taste, and I hope they will bear this in mind for the future.

Please forgive the following moment of reminiscence, but I include it for a reason...

Most of my childhood memories came from experiences with sports (street hockey with the Brannons, manhunt with the Kiedis', and seeing a leg broken twice), holiday celebrations (falling in the pool on Christmas, Luke and fire, recycling bins on New Years), and of course the pranks we got away with (not listed for obvious reasons.) Undoubtedly, every child with a similar upbringing had a partner in crime, and mine was Tim Ford, an athletic neighbor from across the street. Although I have not seen him in quite some time, memories never fade and childhood friendships always last.

So, it was with some shock when I received the following email from him. Hopefully he does not mind my sharing it with the rest of the world, but if he does, well, I am far enough way to stay safe.

Tim wrote...

I thought it was funny to read your thoughts on how civil the U.S. usually is and I definitely agree but I recently had an incident that would contradict this thought.  I was visiting some friends in Asheville, NC and we were out at a club and my friend got in an argument with some thug who was touching his girlfriend.  Well this guy ended up pushing my friend and when I stood between them in an effort to quell any potential fight, the other guy's friend smashed a beer bottle over my head.  I was showered in blood and had to get 6 staples to close the 4 inch gash. 

Tim was released from the hospital, and although he is still as ugly as before, he should be OK. I wanted to include this because it blows my last post about how "I have never known some one who was physically harmed" all to hell. Also, it is great to hear from you, Tim.

In other news, my exams begin tomorrow, and I am hoping the following advice will see me through to greener pastures:

"If you try and don't succeed, cheat. Repeat until caught. Then lie."

And if this fails to work, I will take solace in the following:

"If you try and don't succeed, then you are about normal" (Jeff Foxworthy)

**For the record, the last two quotes are meant to be tongue in cheek. I suppose some ill-humored individual (no names mentioned, MOM) could misinterpret such quotes and think I am serious, but hopefully common sense prevails and you find them as humorous as I first did.