Michael Standring killed for being a symbol of democracy by Peter Standring

Always smiling, someone who cared about the feelings of people around him, Michael was 31 years old. He worked hard to achieve but had a good sense of his own place in the world and lived life accordingly. He was the youngest of four brothers, and as is often the case was underestimated, his true value to all that knew him only realised with his loss.

The last year without Mike in the world has been a series of recurring images: Of mike sat smiling in a bar and disappearing into a blinding flash and trying to imagine what he might have experienced after that: Of mike walking from his hotel room leaving his personal belongings, as they were found, for his holiday night-out: Of mike enjoying himself through the eyes he used to compose his 300 holiday photographs: { Mike's injuries were so devastatingly complete that he left only forensic recognisable trace in death. }: Of his short working life in Sydney from what he left in his apartment in his hurry to get away to his holiday in Bali: Of mike through the narrative of his friends. It has been a year in which to realise the virtual world we experience through mainstream media is a manipulation of politicians trying to maintain popularity; intelligence services failing and protecting themselves through information control; and media editors who see no role for social responsibility and who all seemed to have been cleaved off the same carefree opinionated "our world is your world" block. Mike's killers were many people and ideologies. The bombers took his life. Much of the UK media trivialised his death and I fear the BBC more than terrorists who killed him.

Mike's remains lie in a small spot in Suffolk but his memory remains in 4 continents. He knew he lived in the real world of uncorrectable imperfections and contradictions but where ultimately you must stand up to be counted morally for your actions. Forcing your own ideals on other people is not anymore morally done by news editors than terrorists. Mike respected people for who they were and was frequently willing to forego his own advantage for the benefit of others. These are now seriously undervalued in society. There is a culture of human rights where society is seen only as a whole of its individual parts and all rights end on death. Mike saw society far more important than this .

The testimony of many survivors of the Bali firestorm is their wish to have joined those that died, as much for their belittling by those mentioned above, as for their psychological reaction to survival. Their experience deserves better public sympathy and reflection . Their plight is that they got caught up in an event which much of the media wished to heavily underplay to fit their Iraq stance, the government wished to underplay because of how it was initially handled and the Intelligence service wanted to down play because of how warnings were poorly disseminated. They stood no chance against such a joining of interest. It is the wish of at least one family, those of i.e. Michael Standring, that in the United Kingdom that the true horror of what terrorism is, is publically acknowledged on the 12th of October. Peter Standring

www.thisistheworld.com Get in touch. Email your Articles, Stories, News, Fiction and Poetry to be published on www.thisistheworld.com to: contributions@thisistheworld.com

Europe, Poetry - Highway To Hell

	by Nicholas Boldock The highway to Hell is paved over with gold And the stairway to Heaven is beaten and worn The soldiers of justice have begun to look old And the heart of the darkness is crippled and torn Read more...

Africa, Poetry - Mosi Oa Tunya

	by Michelle Dee Clark Smoke that thunders, masking the coming storm Young men of Chinoyi disappear Men and women tortured for telling the truth Tyrannical regime, that's what they fear And who, are they? Read more...

South America, Articles - La Patagonie Argentine

Anne Levy La plupart d'entre vous le savent, sommes rentrés depuis bientôt trois semaines, avons bien sûr interrompu la canicule.Dès le lendemain de notre arrivée, un violent orage éclatait, il n'avait pas plu depuis 3 mois sur Marseille, la température tomba instantanément de 10 degrés. La presse même accueillit notre retour. Les faiseurs de pluie étaient rentrés, même chez eux, leur don restait intact. Lisez plus...

North America, Articles - My September 11th 2001

	Moses Serruya I'd spent the better part of my working life in Wall Street, having migrated over on the software developer slave trade back in the early 1990's, so Manhattan was in effect my second home, and I had often cause to visit clients in various floors of the nearby twin towers. Read more...

North America, Poetry - Guantanamo

	by Lee Cassanell The Lord is my Shepherd And I am his Sheep He keeps me in Chains And he watches me sleep Read more...

Europe, Religion - Christianity: A 21st century perspective

	Part One by Lee Cassanell If Jesus had died a natural death, the church would not have had there most potent symbol, the cross or Crucifix, instead people would be wearing the effigy an old guy dead in his chair around there necks, which is not quite as Romantic an image as a Guy in a Rose Bush hat being pinned to two planks of wood. Read more...