We all live with the consequences of our decisions, what is worse is living the consequences of someone else’s decisions, the problem with actions in the global world we live in is that the consequences of our actions spread far quicker than ever before, our actions now spread further than ever before, but their consequences become far less predictable as they cross cultural and economic boundaries. It seems our actions have the potential to ricochet around the world in an instant, my tutor called this ‘Time Space Compression, whatever it is we have seen the awful results over the past few days. A woman with acute Morning Sickness, prank call on a Radio Show in Australia to a Hospital in London, a cheap laugh that ended in the death of a Nurse, a wife and a mother less than 24 hours later – none of this could be predicted to end like it did.
It was a prank, and even if it was a prank that was in questionable taste, it was just a prank. They didn’t know who they were talking to, it boosted ratings (or so they would have thought) but as soon as the prank took place advertisers were not wanting to be associated with the station. Like words, when once let out of the bottle, they cannot be returned.
There are no questions to be asked of what happened.
There is only pain, despair, and sorrow.
There are only victims in this tragedy.
Mel Greig and Michael Christian from 2Day FM – the radio station that made the call the spoof call – will need help and will need the understanding from a profession that feeds on grief and scandal, they will need to know they are not bad – they are not, they are victims of this Greek tragedy. The two presenters will have this incident, unwritten and quietly spoken, on their CV’s for a lifetime – a lifetime littered with ‘if only .. ‘ and ‘what if …’s.The condemnation is already circulating, enquiries will be made, reports written, but let’s be honest that will not change anything.
My heart goes out to the children of Jacintha Saldanha, two children who will not be able to understand what has happened, for a long time their pain will be real, hopefully they are somewhere where they have the love and support of people who can just hold them until the pain goes away. Nothing will ever replace the children’s mother, they will be a devastated Father, a family rocked to its core.
But what of the pain of Jacintha who innocently took the call, I can still not understand what she went through even though my Father committed suicide 40 years ago by going for a drive into the night, connecting a hose to the exhaust and putting it into the car.
I have no anger towards my Father, but I cannot understand and sometimes feel I need to understand. Just like my Father Jacintha will not be able to offer an explanation, we can only guess at what drove her to such an act. Two Children left with the feeling of ultimate rejection. None of use can directly predict the consequences of our actions with any certainty on those we know let alone those we have not met, or even know exist.
I am trying to remember how you tell someone it’s Christmas when your parents are no longer there, I have forgotten but I know it took a long time.
The entire episode is a tragedy of monumental proportions; let us hold all these people in our thoughts and prayers.
