A More Vicious Way to Burn CD’s
It may be of curiosity if not of interest that daylight starts early this time of year. Light is noticeable at 4:30 and the sun is up by five. Our turn of dark days will come in May, June & July, so I’m told.
I see from looking at the 2006 liturgical calendar we still have a month and a half before doing some serious thinking about one or two Lenten resolutions. May your Christmas have been a time of blessings and cherished surprises. I’ve read about some early snow over there, so tobogganers, skaters and skiers must be particularly pleased.
The day before Christmas it rained and rained. Christmas Day was lovely, not hot, as I’m told it can get that way. After all it is summer. People go to church here like they do around the world. Christmas was packed with people at all four Masses and so friendly. Everyone is in a festive mood. The Augustinian Sisters invited us Augustinians and the Volunteers for a lovely noon gathering at their retreat house.
We do live in a different world, the difference however, may be more in volume per population. Take for an example, the following headline in the morning paper: “Smash-and-grab warning issued to motorists.” The Chamber of Commerce would not be pleased if they knew this type of reporting was going on.
“Always lock your vehicle doors, even when driving and never open your window more than five centimeters. If possible, vary your route to work and back and avoid stopping in remote areas. Store all valuables in the car boot. Be alert at traffic lights and stop streets. Be aware of people loitering around your vehicle. Keep your vehicle in gear. Make sure your driveway is well lit. Look around before you enter.”
Three months ago I was speaking with Terry, a parishioner and car dealer. My recollection of that conversation and his comments were quite startling to me and I’ll assume to you as well. One caveat of many related was, do not pick up hitchhikers. At his car dealership lot approximately ten to twelve cars are stolen annually. People are moving abroad, he says. Australia is a preferred port of emigration. England and New Zeeland are next on the list. Because of a streamlined educational system in S.A., people are moving abroad.
The statistics released by the Law Reform Commission reports 1.7 million rapes a year, or not too far from five thousand per day. South Africa has lots of resources, but no political will. S.A. does have state of the art mining extracting techniques. I finally did get to something positive from the conversation. Of course there are lots of positives, though this article didn’t take that turn. There are always two sides of the coin.
Last Sunday after the 8:00 O’clock I invited three Augustinian Sisters to a coffee in our dinning room. Allow me to mention a couple of stories. One incident was of a woman who was having her septic tank delivered by way of a truck carrying a heavy load of bags of cement. The truck was commandeered and immobilized on the side of a hill. The upshot before an investigation and proper authorities arrived on the scene, everything was taken away, tires and motor too.
Another story. Before robbing a household, thieves will burn a CD by an open window. The vapors will knock you unconscious and I’m sure you can guess what happens next.
This will be the last story of a lady living alone in her home. Upon cleaning her yard she notices a soda can on the property and so she picks it up and brings it into her home not thinking anything of it. The next day as she was sweeping around her home, she notices another soda can and so she pick it up as the day before. Guess what? On the following day she again sees another soda can and then she inquires of the children in the neighborhood nearby about the appearance of the soda cans. They tell her, the color red stands for a safe home and a green can means that the house is easy for robbing.
I’m determined to end on a positive note. Driving into Durban, along the route and up the hill, is a cluster of 200 housing units which were built, I’m told in 2002 by Jimmy Carter and his volunteers.