14/09/2001 - 5:49 p.m.

"Imagine there's no countries

It isn't hard to do

Nothing to kill or die for

And no religion too

Imagine all the people

Living life in peace...

You may say I'm a dreamer

But I'm not the only one

I hope someday you'll join us

And the world will live as one"

- John Lennon, 1940-1980

I have had this song playing in my head on and off all day and every time it starts I want to cry.

But I have no right to cry - this is not my tragedy.

And yet, and yet...

I am trying to remember the first time I saw the Manhattan sky line on television. Seen on old Barney Miller episodes. Known almost like the cityscape of my own town.

They have taken away a dream I didn't even know I had. Yet somewhere deep down I always believed that some day I would get to New York and walk the streets of Manhattan.

I love big cities with soul and spirit and style. New York always struck me as my kind of place. Though the city is more than the buildings I will never see that sky scape with my own eyes.

The other song that keeps walking across my mind is a Midnight Oil song the title of which still escapes me. "The desperate and divided years these must not be forgotten years"

There is much debate in New Zealand about our position relative to the US.

My position is that we do not need to change it.

But understand this - we agree with your values and ideals we do not always agree on your means of defending them.

I do NOT want nuclear weapons in my country. I would prefer they were not in yours but in light of what has just happened that is a pipe dream.

But to defend freedom and truth and liberty I too will stand up and be counted.

Living the good life
Bels