Newsletter May 2009

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"Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get."

Forrest Gump’s mother’s words – so prophetic?

We protect at all costs mass murderers? We put leading sports people on a pedestal? We regard the leaders of industry as demigods? We treat people who kill in the name of war as heroes? War and killing leads to peace? Chief executives of multinational companies are paid huge bonuses for increasing the organisation’s profits – when often one of the means to that end was to make thousands of employees redundant?
The Editor is confused – we spend much of our lives paying homage to superior gods and idols – both human and mythical – and when it comes time for those shapers of our life to show compassion and step in and save a life or protect somebody from their own silliness – they are not there – missing in action?
Late last month a young man had his life snuffed out in a second – a young man who had met society’s meaning of success by qualifying as an engineer – a young man who had given may people enjoyment by writing music and sharing it with others by playing in a band – a young man who all who knew him said was just a great guy – whose only real mistake in life was that he had been silly – had had too much to drink and got into an altercation which last next to no time and yet was to be the cause of the end of his life.
This young man happened to be one of the Editor’s son’s best friends – so the story hits where it hurts.
How can it be that a man who murdered 35 people in Tasmania is kept in protective custody in a maximum security prison so that nobody can do him any harm.

How can it be that the Chief Executive of Australia’s major telecommunications company can be rewarded to the extent of $13 million per annum when some of the thousands of people that he was responsible for losing their jobs have had their marriages and family life fall apart and may have even considered suicide?

How can it be that the leading player in a sport cannot be tempted by $500,000 in prize money alone – he demands an appearance fee of US$3 million – when some players in his sport travel to tournaments by car – and sleep in that car because they cannot afford a hotel room?
How can it be that people – pensioners - in Australia – one of the most prosperous economies in the world – at least that is what we are constantly told – are unable to be given housing without going on a waiting list for five years – or an extra $30 per week - when our major banks are telling loan defaulters that they are repossessing their houses – the same banks that just last month announced half-yearly profits totaling billions – yes billions of dollars – and this is a historically disastrous financial climate?
Our government is offering $2.5 billion to help the development of Indonesia – the country that bred the Bali bombers – and yet we cannot give a young woman $3 million to go to the USA for a life-saving operation that is not available in Australia.
David Suzuki sums it up in his book The Sacred Balance, quoting US retail analyst Victor Lebow after World War II, “Our enormously productive economy demands that we make consumption our way of life, that we convert the buying and use of goods into rituals, that we seek our spiritual satisfaction and our ego satisfaction, in consumption – we need things consumed, burned out, worn out, replaced and discarded at an ever-increasing rate”. Where did all of that get us?
Peter Finch got it right in the movie Network –
“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not gonna take it any more!”
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The Tapestry of Life

A mouse looked through the crack in the wall to see the farmer and his wife open a package. “What food might this contain?’ the mouse wondered - he was devastated to discover it was a mousetrap. Retreating to the farmyard, the mouse proclaimed the warning – “There is a mousetrap in the house! There is a mousetrap in the house!” The chicken clucked and scratched, raised her head and said, “Mr. Mouse, I can tell this is a grave concern to you, but it is of no consequence to me. I cannot be bothered by it.” The mouse turned to the pig - told him the same story. The pig sympathised, but said, “I am so very sorry, Mr. Mouse, but there is nothing I can do about it but pray. Be assured you are in my prayers.” The mouse turned to the cow – same story again. The cow said, “Wow, Mr. Mouse. I’m sorry for you, but it’s no skin off my nose.” So, the mouse returned to the house, head down and dejected, to face the farmer’s mousetrap alone.

That very night a sound was heard throughout the house — like the sound of a mousetrap catching its prey. The farmer’s wife rushed to see what was caught. In the darkness, she did not see it was a venomous snake whose tail the trap had caught. The snake bit the farmer’s wife. The farmer rushed her to the hospital and she returned home with a fever. Everyone knows you treat a fever with fresh chicken soup, so the farmer took his axe to the farmyard for the soup’s main ingredient. But his wife’s sickness continued, so friends and neighbours came to sit with her around the clock. To feed them, the farmer butchered the pig. The farmer’s wife did not get well; she died. So many people came for her funeral; the farmer had the cow slaughtered to provide enough meat for all of them.

The mouse looked upon it all from his crack in the wall with great sadness. So, the next time you hear someone is facing a problem and think it doesn’t concern you, remember when one of us is threatened, we are all at risk. We are all involved in this journey called life. We must keep an eye out for one another and make an extra effort to encourage one another.

Each of us is a vital thread in another person’s tapestry. Our lives are woven together for a reason.

May 2009 Puzzles

1. What comes next in the following sequence? – and why? 1, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 11. ____________________ _______________________________________ _______________________________________

2. How many apples can a boy eat on an empty stomach – and why? _______________________________________ _______________________________________

3 Rearrange the letters in this word to form another word. ENUMERATION _______________________________________

Fax answers to (02) 95534077 or email editor@focusofficesupplies.com.au

This month’s prize – Canon Pixma iP3600 Photo BubbleJet Printer

Your details:-

Name: …………………………………………………………………

Organisation: …………………………………………………..

Phone or Email: ……………………………………………….

March Quiz Answer.
1. Three ducks
2. A mother, her two daughters and each of their two daughters makes seven seated at the table.
3. $250 – one line divides into two lanes – two lines divide into three lanes – four lines divide into five lanes and five lines divide into six lanes.
Congratulations to Emma Taylor of Central West Pumps stics – our March 2009 quiz winner.

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