Safety?

Never, ever have I had such problems finding an apposite title to a post. I've sat for some ten minutes trying to come up with a sentence that would best render the purport of the posting. 'Safety' is not an ideal title, but seems to be the closest common denominator for what I want to write about.

The initial idea for this weekend's blogging dose was to lay out my take on commuting, but after reading two other posts on it, and having left comment to one of them, there' s little to add, and another topic emerged in the meantime.

Recent weeks brought a spate of tragic events. Unwarranted tragic events...

18 June 2011 - Amy Winehouse is to kick off with her concert tour in Belgrad, but is too intoxicated to perform. After an hour of wait, she comes up to the stage, gibbers something, audience hook her down. Her other concerts are cancelled. Did anyone think over a month ago that on 23 July 2011 she would be found dead in her house in London?

29 June 2011 - two home-made bombs go off in Kraków, the people are injured,
14 July 2011 - another home-made bomb explodes in Kraków, one man is injured,
17 June 2011 - fourth home-made bomb explosion in Kraków within a month, another man injured.

Anything in common? All causualties were mullitated by home-made bombs, planted in shopping bags. All casualties run businesses. Motives of the perpetrator remain in the realm of conjectures, but as the man who quite probably is behind the explosions, was detained two days ago, residents of Kraków can finally have a sigh of relief. Can they feel safe now?

10 July 2011 Sunday - a cruise boat sinks without warning in Russia. Current findings point at human errors and bad technical condition of the ship as causes of the disaster. Death toll: 119. Could it be predicted?

Norway is an atypical country. Its residents are ranked among the happiest people in the world, the country has tremendous deposits of oil and gas, revenues from extraction of natural resources are not wasted but put aside into special ageing fund that should shield the country's finances against demographic problems. Outside European Union, yet prosperous, with society famous for its tolerance and low criminality rates. Seemed to look like a heaven on earth...

22 July 2011, aftenoon - the picture of paradise breaks apart. Firstly bombs go off in government buildings in the capital of Norway. Death toll there is considerbaly low, only 7 people died and several were injured. Later this attack turned out to be just a prelude to a bigger disaster. Some two hours later, a murderer killed almost 100 participants of a youth camp organised by the ruling party. The culprit did admit his responsible and described his deeds as "gruesome but necessary". Could it be foreseen? Did this carnage express some people's hatred towards multiculturalism, permissive societies, other religions, openess, tolerance? How will it affect the trustful and tolerant people of Norway?

Still we have more questions than answers. The post is kind of messy, as each and every note written out of duty rather than inspiration. May the next week bring some revelations on me... Before this happens, come along with some musings on the topic broached...