Back I am, after a good 4 or so weeks out in the writing wilderness the good old South African society in which I live has once again provided me with some material to revive my ailing writing abilities, however limited it may have been in the past. Hope u all good, I am pretty schweet, just recently returned from a pretty cool trip over the sea to the nation that many hate but all would love to be a part of, yip that’s right to the United States of America. I really had a good time and to those that I met there on this list, thanks for the hospitality and all. On the topic of America, if you get a chance to see a movie called Fahrenheit 911 don’t let the opportunity slip u by, yes its very biased against Bush, but most of the media that we are exposed to is biased in favour of the man. Anyway, the reason I mention America, is that of the many people I met, the one common question on the tips of their tongues is, “you from South Africa yeah? Oh man, I hear the crime there is terrible, and me being the proud South Africa I am trying to be, if some of these narrow minded di ckweeds will let me, would you believe that I was hassled more trying to leave this country than I was getting into America, I couldn’t believe it, some dimwit thought it fit to hassle me about the fact that I was Ghanaian and holding a South African passport, I was almost offloaded from my flight, I get to the states and the only stress I got was a friendly what’s the purpose of your visit…anyway as usual I digress… my answer to all these questions about the crime is, yes there is crime, just like you have crime in your country, in London, in Japan, we too have our issues with crime, you cant get away from it, but its not as bad as its made out to be. Especially now it seems to be letting up a bit, but I am not sure if that’s a result of it not being reported as much or the police have gotten a handle on it. And I sincerely believed it. But on my return maybe I am in my own fairytale land as Tebo so beautifully sang once upon a time. Don’t be fooled there is crime in this country, how bad it is I guess is all relative. And we are all fuel this criminal element in our society. What…who…me… u might be asking and yip that’s right u, me, most everyone. How u might ask next? Well lets see, speed limit 120km, screw that, lemme do 150km/hr, just gotta be on the look out for those money hungry scaly cops! Perhaps 120km/hr is a ridiculous speed, but that’s neither here nor there it is the law. Drugs – illegal, but who cares we just having fun. Don’t drink and drive, and what did we do this past weekend? What are we going to do next weekend? That’s correct, get so ratfaced that we can’t remember who we are, get behind the wheel and mission home. And let us be stopped by them damn cops, the crime continues, out comes the hundred, 2 hundred, thousand, whatever it takes to get off. I know the examples I have stated may seem petty, but are they petty to a person who has to bury their child, friend, parent, sibling because we thought our actions were harmless? How different are we to a person who hijacks a car because he assumes that you are insured and things get out of hand and someone’s life ends. Very different cases u might argue, fair enuff, but the potential result I think is but too similar but hey, if its in contravention of the standing legislation it’s a crime!! Then there is the situation where we see someone doing wrong but we are oh too quick to turn a blind eye, afterall there is no real harm done, I mean its just a sweet that got lifted…whatever. We cultivate this criminal society. The right thing nowadays can be anything you want it to be. The price of life is so cheap here, one can be killed for a cellphone, one of the first articles I read was about a 19year old who was being laid to rest after being shot for a cell phone, then I hear the story of Leigh Mathews, who’s ransom was R50k or R500k not too sure (more on this one later). I am sure if I open the newspaper right now, I will find some crime somewhere, how do we stop the rot? I have no answers cos I am a part of the problem. We complain that the roads are shaite, the cops are underpaid, blah blah and how many of us are oh too quick to jippo our tax returns not pay our traffic fines, electricity bills etc? How do we expect the govt. to pay the crime busters if we don’t pay our dues? Then there are chirps of these damn criminals get off scott free, well if we bribe them to get off you tell me why the next person cant do the same? How do u think jail breaks happen? Bribery exists because we create the expectation. If a cop knew that he would see his a ss if he asked for a bribe how many of them do you think would actually focus on their jobs? And to make matters even worse our best weapon in the fight against crime has just recently thrown in the towel, sad day for public prosecutions I tell you. I have much respect for any person, who regardless of your social or political standing, is willing to put u on the spot and make u answer if they feel you are in the wrong, much respect to u Mr Bulelani Ngcuka, and I really do hope the president does not ratify your request to relieve your self of your post, because with you there, the fight against crime bears a flickering light albeit a great task to keep it shining! Back to this Leigh Mathews saga that recently took place, God rest the young lady’s soul and bring peace to her family. Very terrible thing that happened to her, didn’t know much about the young lady’s case  other than she was abducted and her captors promise her return for the payment of ransom, ransom was paid and the only thing that was returned was a naked body with a few bullet holes in the head, very sad indeed. A nation mourns, the talk on everyones lips, the thoughts in many peoples minds… In Sudan many are dying…oh wait that’s too far, lets try that again…in Mitchels Plein another child is shot in gang crossfire, whilst walking home from school…”oh well…”, another woman in East Rand is abducted, her body is found headless…”sorry for her…”and that’s the end of that story…what inference can we draw from this, and I am in no way trivializing what the young lady’s ordeal, but is social standing a measure of a persons life? Is it a measure of the amount of pain, sorrow, loss and grief a family and friends feel? (credit for this last paragraph must go to Carl who highlighted this very issue to me) Birthdays.. 11th Santie/Rudi 12th Yao 15th Naeem 22nd Michelle 24th Vusi 25th Elmar and Poms 26th Gina 27th Mike and Courts 28th Jele, Reider and my folks 31st wedding anniversary 30th Eddie T.O. and Will Lee Sheesh from May to July delivery rooms seem to be pretty busy, hope u fellas, had/have splendid  birthdays. Quotes….. “Petty crimes breed great crimes” – Marie Louise de la Ramee “Bad habits indulged in become a crime” – Anon “The reason there is so little crime in Germany is that it's against the law.” – Alex Levin Maximum respect and http://mondaymail.blogspot.com for any comments