Here and Now..

It is one thing to read about it in the newspapers or to see it on TV. It is quite another thing when it happens to you or those around you. You read in the news about the rising number of dengue cases in Singapore. You feel for those affected and their families. But when my mum and brother came down ill last week we feared the worst. They were hardly able to get out of bed and even ran fevers. The hardest part was that it takes 5 days to know for sure if one has contracted dengue fever. So it was nerve-wrecking to say the least for those few days to say the least. In the end it was nothing.

And then there is the Bali bombings of yesterday. Acts of terrorism in all its forms are deplorable. Especially in idyllic Bali whose only crime was that many Australians go there. Just in case you are wondering how that relates to what I am talking about, my brother Noel was over there the last few days. He was to host a show over there over the weekend for a client. He had been to some of the places that were bombed only hours before. We got the news as we were having dinner last night at Sembawang. It really put a dampener on the occasion. My mum literally broke down and wept upon hearing the news at the table. With such acts of terror you never quite know if that was the end of things are just merely the beginning with more attacks to follow. So it was a long,restless night in our home. We kept our eyes to the screen just needing to know who was hurt and developments if any in the whole thing. Noel is still over there but knowing him, he is probably affected by all that is going on around him there.

I guess it really hits home when someone you love and care about is involved in something of this nature and all you can do is ...'wait',.... 'hope' and ....'pray'.