Sometimes, optimist as I am, the World seems like a frightening place.  No matter how many amusing things I thought of writing today, it was just impossible to forget the terrible events of this week. If I really have to look for the bright side then I will applaud those moments of individual bravery in the Australian and Brazilian floods and those amazing American citizens who disarmed the Tucson sniper.

In the end though, it is difficult not to feel our human frailty when I  think of that Australian family,  some saved and some lost on the roofs of their cars and then watch the funeral of a nine year old girl born on the infamous 9/11 and shot down on the streets of Tucson.