What does it take to be human?

This has been a week of events that I feel strains my belief that there is a humanity in all of us; a humanity that makes us human (and not something less).

Two events in particular have been thoroughly disturbing.

The first is the murder in cold blood of Muammar Gaddafi – who was a tired, broken man begging for mercy when he was eventually captured. That anyone could brutally murder a helpless man who had surrendered to his captor's good heart is beyond me.

Granted Gaddafi was less that merciful of his detractors and perhaps was due what was meted to him. Just because he was less than human does not give his captors the same license – after all a man cannot still be a man if he subsequently chooses to bite the dog that has bitten him.

Re-routing Dhaka metro – how much is being compromised?

As the debate continues about the new metro route in Dhaka and on which side of the old Tejgaon airport the MRT line will finally land, one wonders at the fluid opportunism of the political bickering.

Questions arise whether the line has been moved at the behest of the air force, the current custodian of the airport, who were reportedly concerned about the security risks that an elevated rail system travelling alongside it might raise.

Then there was suggestions that the metro would entail aircraft landing on only half of the runway due to clearance issues on approach from the south end (perhaps aircraft could make the approach from the north end without such a concern?) so there is now talk of the line alongside Rokeya Sharani beside the parliament building.

You can never tell with kids

Parents can never really be sure how their young children would take to exciting news and special holiday announcements.

In many cases it is the parents rather than the children who are more excited. For parents watching their children react to the news and squeal out in pleasure when presented with an exciting vacation opportunity is plenty reward.

An Atlanta-based couple were so excited about planning a Disney World holiday for their children that they decided to break the news to them with a handycam handy to tape what they were expecting would be over the top reactions.

Global crisis alphabet starts with a 'Dubya'

The world seems to be in perpetual chaos. If it isn't a natural disaster, it's a war; if it isn't a war, it's civil unrest; if it isn't civil unrest, it's a prolonged recession; if it's isn't a prolonged recession, it's partisan turmoil; if it isn't partisan turmoil, it's a natural disaster...

And so it continues.

Gaddafi needn't have been allowed to die a martyr

Last week I had a rather tongue and cheek go at the media frenzy about the passing of two distinct personalities who died within two short weeks of each other. It seemed that both the passing of Steve Jobs and Muammar Gaddafi spun off countless stories and anecdotes in the media and the social platforms.

The images depicted in the media of the aforementioned personalities could not be more different, where as with the one the media built him up to near impossible heights of achievement and fanfare, the media went to (somewhat) extremes to degrade the other.