The loss of loved ones hits all of us sooner or later. In these troubled times statistics obscure the personal tragedy of every death, though some are highlighted by the media. Anger and denial are two early reactions, with grief, pain, guilt, and other feelings to follow.
Titanic sank quite quickly; the original design with many watertight bulkheads had been revised to allow an impressive central area and staircase. Approximately 1,500 people drowned; there were not enough lifeboats and a lack of crew training.
Everyone is a personality, as is a wood! A wood is not complete without shrubs, plants, birds and insects, all in a cycle of life, death and renewal.
For Christians, Easter marks the triumph of Jesus overcoming death. He had been foretold in ancient prophecies to be the Messiah, was rejected by the crowd 2,000 years ago, but our western democracies are built on his teachings.
Last week, this column highlighted threats from abusive behaviour, triggered by a policeman found guilty of the most awful crimes.
Democracy enables the majority to decide how minorities are dealt with. Society is a word encouraging people to believe we are all in this together, which we really are, living on this one planet in the corner known as East Devon.
As engineers and architects know, a complex structure needs to be checked that it will be stable and stay up before worrying about how to build it!.
Politicians in western liberal democracies mostly come from privileged backgrounds.
The festive season runs more or less from Black Friday to New Year, embracing Hanukkah, Christmas and the ancient festival of Yuletide. The Hindu Festival of Lights, "Diwali", celebrates the triumph of good over evil and comes earlier, though a similar sentiment!
Nativity plays are a Christmas tradition. Church schools teach about the birth of Jesus; many just continue the traditional symbolism but the story is relevant today.
