Upset from Fire

I seem to have upset someone with my previous post. So, firstly, I'm sorry it's taken so long to respond, I haven't logged in for a few days. I'm not going to publish your comments because I think you may have unintentionally revealed too much about yourself and my publishing them might result in your privacy being breached more than you'd like. Secondly, it was never my intention to cause hurt, that being said it's all too easy to do so by being too light about a subject. But, being light about a subject is a rather Australian thing to do, especially when it's a scary subject. It's a natural defense. We all do it. I'm sorry you feel you copped the rough edge of it on this occasion. But it was a scary subject, everyone thought the fire was caused by a vandal, they were scared for the fellow and his kids and they were scared for their own homes. I know the person I was talking to was scared enough that she couldn't sleep most of the night. She kept getting scared there was going to be a fire bomb come through her front window. It wasn't until next morning that the other story started circulating. If it isn't true then it was a defense against the fear too.

So, when I read through my post again there's one bit I would change. Instead of "... by the next morning, someone had found out ..." I would write that "by the next morning people were saying". I agree that saying 'found out' makes it sound like someone knew something real, and I am now acknowledging that it is all word of mouth and passed through a few people before I got it so it is just as likely a theory someone made up.

The other point is that I doubt very much that it's actually incriminating, otherwise everyone who's ever been the subject of a bad news article would end up in gaol! And who knew you or any more than a half dozen people ever read this blog! I'm sure the cops or the magistrate or the psych involved in all this don't read my blog, and they are all intelligent enough to recognise that post for what it was, which is a post about something scary that happened in Tregear, that is identified in the article as being word of mouth, and probably badly worded to top it off.

I know that happenings of the last few days have been shocking and traumatic for you. I can't really imagine all of what you are feeling, but I think you are probably taking on way too much and you probably think who else is going to do it, and you're embarrassed and defensive and wanting the think the best of the fellow involved and not give up on him. But I can tell you that in a quiet suburb such as this, something as hugely visible as a house fire doesn't remain private business. It's impossible for it to remain private business. People could see it for a long way, people close up were scared, and they are all talking about it. I also know it will all blow over and no one will care very much at all in a very short time. If anyone actually said anything that put the blame on the kids you'd be well within your rights, and with a whole suburb full of backup, to tell them they are morons. No one I could think of would have anything but sympathy for all the kids involved. Their lives are going to be changed by this, in one way or another, probably in lots of ways. I know I have nothing but sympathy for all the kids. We all just want to live a quiet life without too many stresses, but most of us end up going through something traumatic sometime.

I hope everyone, those who witnessed and were so badly scared by it, and those who were all involved, can relax and enjoy what they can of the silly season without anything else going wrong!

Bit early yet, but Merry Xmas and Happy New Year!