Let me make it clear: it is OK

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,21059109-421,00.html

I’ve had this news article open in my Firefox browser since Monday, looking at it now and then, encouraged that some semblance of sanity is in our court system today.

I guess it’s been encouraging for another reason too...

Since coming to Hong Kong I’ve found myself unable to keep abreast of issues that I would back home just through the natural course of life. I didn’t watch one Super 14 match last year. I almost missed the Queensland State elections and would have if not for my mother reminding me to go and vote. The weather is horrible to conceive, either blessedly cold during the humid summer months which I’m jealous to consider, or stinking hot when we’re all lovely and cosy which I’d rather not think of!

The list goes on.

In a feeble attempt to have some idea of what is going on in the world I log on regularly to the BBC and news.com.au websites, and listen to a Brisbane radio station 96.5. While often I find this a helpful exercise, lately I’ve been astounded by the amount of junk we let invade our senses. Perhaps it’s a continuation from what I experienced in the States after watching TV for the first time in 8 months.

We are bombarded with companies jockeying for our attention. We are tempted by tales of sexual dalliances of the rich and/or famous. We are saddened by the filth that pervades the actions of abusers and users and perverts… and at times our governments. We are told to rely on one source for information, with that information then being proved inconsistent later in time. We humiliate and demoralise those in power instead of encouraging them. We idolise indiscriminately.

I sit at my computer tonight feeling sick with information overload – but it’s not information – it’s just data. Data that keeps me feeling like I’m informed.

So with this background, I was heartened by the words in the article above:

Justice Benjamin said he took the unusual step of calling the children to court after they expressed a wish not to see their father. "You may have received mixed messages from others close to you about whether it is OK to see your father and spend good times with him. Let me make it clear: it is OK," he said.

There was goodness in those words expressed by that Judge, and for right or wrong they have given me some hope this week, far away from home, that amidst the plethora of scandal that I come across each day we have not gone down the tube… just yet.