Two ladies take a selfie. Barack Obama, Pope Francis, David Cameron, Hillary Clinton and Meryl Streep have done it. PHOTO/FILE
It’s a game all the newspapers play
about this time: the year has been and gone, so what were the world’s
most important moments of 2013?
Britons have a
reputation for being inward-looking, thus it was no surprise to see many
mentions of the death of ex-Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, the birth
of a royal baby, Prince George, and Andy Murray’s Wimbledon singles
tennis win, the first by a British man for 77 years.
There
was also the retirement of the perpetually angry Sir Alex Ferguson as
manager of Manchester United football club, the gruesome murder of a
British soldier by British Islamic extremists in a London street, and
the sensational court case in which celebrity chef Nigella Lawson’s drug
use was disclosed.
But, by any standards, last year
was dominated by events overseas and the Kenya shopping mall attack in
September came high on most lists, though not as high as the death, aged
95, of Africa’s saintly hero, Nelson Mandela.
We also
remembered the shock resignation of austere Pope Benedict and the
election as 266th pontiff of the smiling Jorge Maria Bergoglio from
Argentina. The Buenos Aires cardinal took the name Francis and made an
instant impact by kneeling and washing the feet of Muslims, women and
young criminals at an Easter ceremony in Rome.
As all
editors know, bad news beats good news any time. So most readers
recalled mayhem in the Middle East, including the horrors of civil war
in Syria, and in Egypt the removal of President Morsy in an army coup,
with the subsequent and continuing violence. And towards the end of the
year, horror in Africa, including the reported beheading of two children
in the Central African Republic and mass killings in South Sudan.
Violence
elsewhere: Man-made in America, when two bombs exploded during the
Boston marathon, killing three people and injuring 264, and natural in
the Philippines when typhoon Haiyan devastated the country, taking the
lives of 5,260.
Thankfully, it was a more humdrum year
for most of us. No complaints, myself. Lost a few kilos by counting the
calories, won modest cash prizes plus a bottle of champagne for a couple
of my short stories and started to write my life history -- at the
family’s request, I must add. Also got back to Kenya for a short visit
with old friends. So, here I am, a year older and a bit leaner. Any
wiser?
Well, I did learn two new words during 2013:
Twerking, which everybody got excited about for a while -- it is dancing
in a sexually provocative manner; and selfie -- a mobile phone
photograph taken by yourself of yourself and perhaps one other person,
usually a celebrity.
Since the only photos l manage to
take on my mobile are accidental pictures of my feet, I do not
anticipate making a selfie any time soon, with or without a celeb.
* * * * *
A
Win/Gallup poll asked people around the world which country they would
like to live in if there were no restrictions. Top choice (9 per cent)
was the United States, with seven per cent each for the desired
runners-up, Canada and Australia.
But when asked which
country they believed to be the greatest threat to peace, the largest
number, 24 per cent, named the United States. Pakistan came next on
eight per cent, United Kingdom was bottom on one per cent and there was
no mention of Kenya.
* * * * *
Investigators
in London studied 2,000 emergencies in a bid to highlight the
importance of safety measures against fire. In some cases, no possible
precautions could have prevented disaster.
— A
housewife dropped a toilet roll down the loo, then put it in a microwave
to dry and forgot about it. Until the flames reminded her.
— A dog leapt onto a kitchen worktop to reach food. In doing so, he hit the controls of a toaster, setting fire to a bag.
— A pigeon dropped a lighted cigarette-end down a chimney, starting a blaze in a bird’s nest.
—
A teenage boy on his first date sprayed himself with deodorant, then
managed to set light to what remained in the can, creating his personal
flame-thrower.
* * * * *
The
minister was surprised when he found only one person in the
congregation, an elderly farmer. Was it worth proceeding, he asked?
Said the farmer, “When I take the bucket of food to my hens and only one turns up, I don’t send it away hungry.”
Moved
by this simple analogy, the minister conducted a full service with a
long and forceful sermon. He looked at his one-man congregation for
approval.
Said the farmer, “When I take the bucket to the hens and only one turns up, I don’t give it the whole bucket.”
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