Do monkeys speak in NoKor

The euphoria of the Christmas holidays was just peaking yesterday, with the anticipation of the New Year, when the distressing news of the missing flight from Indonesia was flashed on TV yesterday. The reports that continued to be repeated over and over, giving viewers updated accounts was continuing up to late last night, and once more, the entire world sympathized with the families of the passengers on the AirAsia airbus that was reported missing about two hours after take-off, and an hour away from its destination.

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The AirAsia plane took off from Indonesia at about 5:25 a.m. yesterday for Singapore with 162 people on board, 155 of them passengers, and seven crew members. There were also 17 young children on the flight that was supposed to take about three hours. However, two hours after it left the airport, the plane lost contact, and shortly before that, it was reported that it had asked to be allowed to change route because of the bad weather. Flight 8501 was no longer heard from after that.

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When the reports first started coming out, they said the plane was overdue by four hours but as of about 10 p.m., no sign of the aircraft, nor contact from it had been noted. Already planes had gone out to search for it, but as of this writing, not a sign had been sighted yet. One could see the distraught faces of family members of the passengers as they awaited any report on the fate of their loved ones. It was déjà vu – somewhat a repeat of what happened earlier this year when a Malaysian plane also disappeared from the skies on its way to Beijing, China.

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As if to further dampen the spirit of celebration at yearend, another report came out also yesterday about a ferry from Italy headed for Greece that caught fire in mid-sea. But at least the ferry had been located, and rescue operations were going on up to press time last night. The ferry had about 400 passengers, most of them believed to be tourists on a holiday. Hundreds had already been reported rescued, so there is hope that no lives will be lost in that burning ferry on the Adriatic Sea.

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Meanwhile, we don't want to sound morbid, but the news from abroad also focused on the anniversary of the deadly tsunami that hit Indonesia and Thailand ten years ago. Some of the survivors and members of their families went back to the place where they lost loved ones, or where they, themselves, had gone through the harrowing experience, to give thanks for having been spared and to offer prayers for those they lost. That calamity is considered the worst in the world's history, because an estimated 250,000 people died in it, with more missing until now.

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But on a lighter vein, we got news about the decision of the German government to donate a portion of the Berlin Wall, the barrier that had for years separated the Eastern and Western parts of Germany, to the Philippines. The Easterners were under Communist rule, while the West was democratic. Now, 25 years after, they are giving our country a portion to be a memorial of their dark days. I wonder where our government will set it up? The Luneta, maybe?

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I would like to brag that I have anticipated them because I happened to be in Germany, particularly in Berlin, about two years after the Fall of the Wall, and was able to bring back chips from it as souvenirs. And I also had the good fortune to see the opened Eastern side, that was so bleak and colorless, compared to the West. Now, after the reunification, as they call it, both sides must be thriving, and I hope there are no more resistant ones like the “skinheads” of the earlier days, who were the mischief makers.

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It is very easy to see how immature the leadership of North Korea is, especially in the statements that came out from it recently. Supposedly angry at the Americans for showing what they think is a controversial movie called “The Interview”, a spokesman for its government blasted American President Barack Obama by saying, “Obama always goes reckless in words and deeds like a monkey in a tropical forest”. Now what monkey, whether in a forest or not, is capable of words and deeds? As for their statement that Obama looks like a monkey, well, no comment only.*

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