tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post3106098144325970859..comments2023-10-04T17:13:47.394+03:00Comments on future of my past: I would pray if I couldAnna MRhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13801478271766064478noreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-80306191364438408852007-11-13T00:41:00.000+02:002007-11-13T00:41:00.000+02:00Hei Bindi - yes, there are multiple levels of sorr...Hei <B>Bindi</B> - yes, there are multiple levels of sorrow associated with tragedies of this type, one of them being the loss of a collective innocence and of the identity a society had prior to the event. I read what the BBC wrote about this thing, and one of the things that struck me was the fact they thought it news-worthy to mention that schools here very rarely have any fences, walls, gates etc around them. Even though I have lived abroad - and as recently as eighteen months ago - it hadn't really ever occurred to me even to notice this. We live in a very open society - people who hold the highest public offices walk amongst "ordinary citizens" - there is no perceived need for paranoia and cagey security measures. I would hate to lose that.<BR/><BR/>At the same time, it feels almost criminal of me to be thinking on that level, while another level of the grief is the very real, inconsolable and concrete one many families are having to now come to terms with as being a part of their lives - forever. <BR/><BR/>It is just too horrible. What more can I say.Anna MRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13801478271766064478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-6022505447938797442007-11-13T00:30:00.000+02:002007-11-13T00:30:00.000+02:00Hei housut, thanks again for your thoughts. I agre...Hei <B>housut</B>, thanks again for your thoughts. I agree, there seem to be aspects in us (i.e. people in general, I believe, although I can only for certain speak of myself, I suppose) which are activated by certain circumstances, situations, emotions, and so on. The rational mind isn't the whole truth, at least not about us. Maybe not about the world, either.Anna MRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13801478271766064478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-22179796787365150782007-11-11T09:48:00.000+02:002007-11-11T09:48:00.000+02:00... and we grieved for our lost innocence.... and we grieved for our lost innocence.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-55860802165673575512007-11-11T07:44:00.000+02:002007-11-11T07:44:00.000+02:00I identify with longing to wind back the clocks, r...I identify with longing to wind back the clocks, rewrite it. When it happened here in Port Arthur in Tasmania, we suddenly had to reassess our Australian identities, our selves. Prior to this, tragedies of that kind only happened in America.<BR/><BR/>I think disbelief is a natural first stage of grief.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-27090614492698132172007-11-11T03:19:00.000+02:002007-11-11T03:19:00.000+02:00Sorry, my turn for typo rage:"not only that there ...Sorry, my turn for typo rage:<BR/><BR/>"not only that there appear to have been responses" <BR/><BR/>would read far better as "not only that, but it seemed to me that there were responses" or something like that :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-12792498047407285112007-11-11T03:14:00.000+02:002007-11-11T03:14:00.000+02:00anna, to respond to some of your thoughts about pr...anna, to respond to some of your thoughts about prayer: I veer along many points on the scale between agnostic and atheist, and yet at certain (and very specific) points in my life I have prayed: not only that there appear to have been responses (though that would need to be viewed within the context of the personal meaning that spurred me on to pray in the first place). Certain experiences - painful, sorrowful or joyful - can shed light on facets of our being which might not make sense to who we are on a day-to-day basis. But in my opinion they're there all the same.<BR/><BR/>Your comment about wishing to be pre-this event: very well put and, whilst saying a lot about this very sad train of events, also can be extended to a whole host of other, far less extreme situations. As such I'd say it's quite insightful.<BR/><BR/>xxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-88810004729726255872007-11-11T01:30:00.000+02:002007-11-11T01:30:00.000+02:00Hei Bindi, thank you for your thoughtfulness (and ...Hei Bindi, thank you for your thoughtfulness (and don't you be worrying about that typo - disgraceful, but it made me smile, although I only really noticed it once you'd pointed it out. Unfortunately I can't help you, as blogger doesn't allow for comment editing). I have been thinking about this prayer issue - only those who have a faith can really pray, I suppose, but there is a contemplative state of sorrow and compassion and pain, which took over from my internal verbal intellectual monologue whilst I listened to the Allegri, over and over again, on Wednesday night. Maybe that could be called a prayer of sorts, too.<BR/><BR/>I have also noted in myself what could be described as a longing nostalgia for Wednesday morning, for the time when this hadn't yet happened, a desire for us all just to go back to <EM>then</EM> and <EM>there</EM>, and somehow thus make it unhappen, even when I know nothing can make this possible (as I have just said in my comment to But Why, in fact). This may qualify as asking for a miracle. Who knows. Religious desires are deeply rooted in us, I think, even in those of us who, like me, do not or cannot really believe. It would certainly be a comfort to be able to.Anna MRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13801478271766064478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-80178981410669994182007-11-11T01:08:00.000+02:002007-11-11T01:08:00.000+02:00Hei But, thanks for coming by and for being so int...Hei But, thanks for coming by and for being so intelligent and sympathetic. I think you're right, there can be no real answers to our "why's" and "how's". Rational these events are not, and I feel rational explanations (which usually include apportioning blame - a natural enough reaction, but a cruel and simplistic one, I find) leave my questions unanswered. If I were to apportion any blame myself, I'd say shooting clubs should take a hard look at their process of handing out licenses (no, I don't - I think shooting clubs are totally unnecessary and wanky and dangerous and horrible, and should be closed down, but then I am a power freak who wants everyone to think like I think). He'd had his license after a one-hour session at a club. <BR/><BR/>But all this is just talk, you know, after the fact, and no amount of talk will turn back the clock...Anna MRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13801478271766064478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-36237586746453764472007-11-10T22:31:00.000+02:002007-11-10T22:31:00.000+02:00anna please edit my comment, its can't stay there ...anna please edit my comment, its can't stay there as prey!!! ahhhAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-16250045859259299782007-11-10T22:30:00.000+02:002007-11-10T22:30:00.000+02:00I do prey in moments like this, for the families o...I do prey in moments like this, for the families of the ones who have lost their children and all of those who grieve. And I cry.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-16705942652131660202007-11-09T00:27:00.000+02:002007-11-09T00:27:00.000+02:00Great music, thankyou.I have nothing of any value ...Great music, thankyou.<BR/><BR/>I have nothing of any value to say. I have no idea what a sensible response to such a hideous occurrence would be.<BR/><BR/>Why?<BR/><BR/>How?<BR/><BR/>I cannot comprehend. I am anyway unsure I would want this tragedy to be capable of being rationalised.But Why?https://www.blogger.com/profile/18410865104797473854noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-15225009900754433502007-11-08T21:43:00.000+02:002007-11-08T21:43:00.000+02:00Hei housut - thank you, seriously, for your visit ...Hei housut - thank you, seriously, for your visit today and your words. Tragedy of this depth and magnitude goes beyond human understanding, doesn't it, and words fail us, simultaneously making the most sincere attempt at expression trite and flat and the biggest cliché and truism quite accurate and real. I really cannot have religion as such, but music such as this provides a place for the soul to curl up and seek comfort, and maybe a meaning that transcends individual experience, a place where I can (again/still/begin to) think of mankind not only as an organism producing senselessness and violence, but also as one capable of creating a thing of beauty and longing which spans and carries and speaks over centuries, over generations. <BR/><BR/>Thanks again, housut. xAnna MRhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13801478271766064478noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-25897493.post-71090072642699433562007-11-08T12:10:00.000+02:002007-11-08T12:10:00.000+02:00I only just heard about this when I saw your post....I only just heard about this when I saw your post. I thought, having read your post, how could you worry about it being insensitive (it<I> is</I> very sensitive, thoughtful and respectful) and then I came to write this response, and you realise just how difficult it can be to adequately express something in mere words. <BR/><BR/>This piece of music is wonderful and has moved me. I hope it continues to soothe you.<BR/><BR/>xxxAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com