Revenge...right or wrong?

William Shakespeare said "If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die and if you wrong us shall we not revenge?" From that I assume the point he was trying to make is that we are only human. Lately the theme of revenge seems to be floatng through my sub-concious; not because I myself have a bone to pick with anyone...maybe just the computer honestly! But because I am watching a new series on T.v entitled revenge, my latest J.D Robb book was all about a long and drawn out revenge plot, plus I'm working on a small revenge plot for one of my new characters in the follow up to The Gift. So you kinda get why I'm a little pre-occupied about the subject. It is rather facinating the way each of us reacts differently to a situation and how given the right or wrong circumstances we may choose to succumb or hold off from the temptation of revenge; well I think it is anyway as people facinate me in general. I wonder is one sex more capable of it than the other? Or is it a personality vrs a experience arguement? Does it depend entirely on the original offence? I wonder if revenge in any form, for any reason is ok? From what I can see Biblically it doesn't look like it, Romans 12:19 "Do not take revenge, my friends, but leave room for God's wrath, for it is written: It is mine to avenge: I will repay you says the Lord" , Ephesians 4:26-27 "In your anger do not sin: do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" and Psalm 37:8 "Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it only leads to evil" They all seem pretty decisive on the fact that vengence is Gods job not ours; check them out an see what you think. Yet we are each given the capability for such clever scheming, violence and judgement. Some may argue that in is in our very nature to seek revenge as the charactistics are all there waiting for us to find a motive, thus the statement "To ere is human to forgive divine" Can we ever come close to God's way of looking at things and forgive or is it just to be expected that eventually something will be bad enough for us to give in; cop-out or not? I am and remain intrigued, so I will continue to look into the subject and work on my characters plans. One thing I have found so far in my delving: often revenge is used no matter how it is packaged for personal gain, not so much for pay back or righting a wrong. Check out this quote "In human history, the desire for revenge and the desire for loot have often been associated" John McCarthy. I'll keep you updated! Isobial :)

One of the few reason's I love our church...have a guess what it says!

Reasons why I love my dogs...

From the minute we decided to move to Australia there was no doubt in our minds that our animals would be coming with us, they are part of our family and for us we would not felt like it was home without them. Sometimes though they do make you wonder! Well after a particularly bad thunder and lightening storm last night I am sitting down to reflect on two of my most constant campanions; our dogs. It is very true that there are cat and dog people we have both but I have to say the cats although I love them have a very distinct way of letting you know that they control the relationship not you! Like my daughters one peeing in my mothers hand bag as a farewell present! The dogs however wait on your every move, look and sometimes noise, they are always at the door waiting when you get up to go outside, flopped at my feet when I'm writing and generally as close as is possible if there is any crumb of food around. But I digress. Last night we had a particularly nasty storm and although safely tucked away in their run and bundled up in toasty kennels our smaller dog (as in medium sized no handbag editions here) Jenna who hates anything like loud noises or lightening decides she will start her routine of neurotic bad weather behaviour. First comes the trying to squeeze out through the walls of the run, luckily it's covered. Next is the trainee yoddler crossed with very bad opera singer. This can last for hours, oh the neighbours must love us! So we put the outside radio on to mask her noise and of course to calm her according to my vet investigations. Well no it doesn't so next stage of the process the dig and chew, she digs a little the attacks the kennel with her teeth and claws hoping to use up all that adrenaline. At this point we give her and her calmer friend in the kennel next door a lovely chewy so the kennel and floor stay in one piece. We are hoping beyond all else that the chewy, the fact that the storm has now moved on and the sudden quiet means that all is well. But that would be too easy wouldn't it? So we check them before bed and all is good but come morning what is this Jenna has gone? Well actually no; after leading us into a false sense of security she decides to try a prision break and digs a small trench under her side of the wall, jigglin and wigglin along until she was trenched and wedged under her kennel mates pallet which then has a kennel on top. So when we have a good look in the run an we realise she is still in there some how as she is making a small noise. Then we have to begin the rescue mission of pulling everything out so we can release this deranged animal who got herself into this mess. Needless to say we were unimpressed at 6:30am, Nahla our other dog was super non-impressed as she had obviously put up with Jen under her kennel all night. So did we get the thank you of all time for our efforts to rescue her? No she ran straight to the grass for a toilet stop and back into her kennel to have a go at her untouched chewy! Now I may sound like I'm being particulary uncaring but as this dog does crazy things like this on a regular basis and is completely unharmed bar a little mud I am merely sharing the joy of my delightful pets! Now after all that drama they are conked out sleeping, being watched suspiciously by the cats and I'm sure dreaming of more chewy treats and digging tunnels; you've got to love them don't you? Isobial :)

Precious Time..

I was watching the news yesterday an they showed this horrid story on drivers in Australia behaving badly; now I'm sure this is not just an Australian thing but it was scary and shocking watching a usually reasonable 40 something year old reach through a car window whilst ranting and belted a very old man repeatedly. The journalists carried on saying they had questioned many drivers and some huge percentage claimed they were more likely now than ever before to get angry whilst driving and they felt the drivers around them were increasingly agressive. I guess we have all got used to hearing and seeing road rage but the part which intrigued me was the shrink at the end claiming this build up of agression was due to our lives becoming more busy than ever; as he see's it the latent anger is a direct result of the frustration we feel at loosing time in our lives. Well that is rather interesting isn't? We are all so busy an stressed that we've become horrid people who get angry at the slightest provication and belt other drivers? Well not quite that bad but you do get what he's saying; or at least I do. We are in such a rush all the time with work, social obligations and family requirements that the lack of personal time and stress just builds into a cresendo of frustration that when pushed to the limit causes us to lash out. Now I'm not saying it's ok or that all of us are going to lash out like deranged animals whilst driving but what I am asking is how do we get to this point? How do we reach the point where we feel that way when we are often the ones who take these things on. Why do we cram our lives so full of doing that we get to this point? Well once again it's time isn't it? Like never before our society seems to be obsessed with the now, do it before it's too late, experience it, try it, buy it! I can honestly say I have fallen for the whole routine of do..do..do more often than not and yes it does build up a sense of frustration especially when I feel that I can't do what I want including rest because I have to do other things for other people. I guess the only real solution to the problem is for us all to get smarter, to make sure we set me time aside and that we prioritise what we must do and choose some not all of the stuff that we can do; because lets be honest for those of us with kids they are watching and experiencing this crazy routine of cronic business and how will they ever learn that life doen't have to be that way if we don't role model it? Not to mention the fact I'm sure they and others would appreciate us being calmer, saner, more pleasent people in the long run. I for one would much rather enjoy the time I do have rather than being so frustrated that I can't enjoy a thing; Bon Jovi has this great line in one of their songs "Live while I'm alive, sleep when I'm dead" Well in theory that's a cute slogan but as I don't plan on dying anytime soon and I like many others would not be able to think, write or converse without sleep I think I'll aim for more of a life balance and enjoy the things I have and choose to do it with the people I care about. I'm quite happy to sleep some of the time while I'm alive because not doubt God will keep me busy when I'm dead! Have a fabulous week everyone! Isobial :)

Back to it!

It's kind of hard to come back down to earth after having so much fun running a big event but just like everyone else who helped I now have to get my head back into work mode. Not that it won't be fun, I've had characters and scene's running through my head non-stop over the last few weeks, they will definately be making it onto paper shortly. Not to mention the fact I left Kate in a rather precarious position in the third chapter of the next book! Letting go of all that adrenalin and excitement isn't easy, it is a huge buzz making people happy; luckily for me writing is a huge buzz too and with those who have read the whole of The Gift getting ansty to know what has happened to Kate I do need to get busy! Like most parents with school back in for the year and summer holidays all done it is time to get back to the schedule of work and home life. So over the next few weeks I hope to be writing up a storm, doing lots of blog additions and some hard out investigating! If you have read the first chapter of The Gift, firstly thanks I hope you enjoyed it and secondly you will know that part of the book is based in Auckland New Zealand and the other location is Chachapoya's in Peru so due to the interesting locations I thought it maybe fun to post some of the gorgeous location pictures and information I have used during the writing process. I hope you enjoy them as much as I enjoyed hunting them out! Also keep an eye out for other pic's in the gallery page there will be some nice additions from the 26th soon. Enjoy your week! Isobial :)