BANG, BANG !!!!!

Tonga is a nation that outlaws GUNS.
As far as I know there are few private individuals that have guns. There is however in every town someone with a rifle that you can pay to shoot your pig and of course the Civil Defense Force has guns to ward off any invasions.
Any other guns are illegal !!!!!
I have to admit that there is a wonderfulness about the fact that getting shot at is something you don't have to worry about in the KINGDOM.
NOW comes Christmas ..... it seems that for the second year running (this is my second Christmas here) TOY GUNS are the number one gift to both boys and girls. Tomorrow the streets will be filled with gunfighters both walking the streets and riding in the back of trucks. This will go on in a state of frenzy until the Chinese toys break, which will not be long after the New Year.
I'm not a psychologist .... but there is something innate about "BANG BANG" that gives a strange joy. I have been in other "third world countries were the fascination is played out with real weapons and THAT REALITY kills for real. The plastic guns in Tonga will soon be part of the landfill but what happens to those "BANG BANG " moments for the next 11 months ???????????????

It's the THOUGHT that counts .... REALLY

Last friday i came home for lunch and the boys in the neighborhood came running up to me to tell me that the power company had been by my house to tell me "PAY YOUR BILL OR ELSE WE TURN OFF YOUR POWER". Well that was all news to me. Where i work they pay my electric bill, BUT this was friday and i certainly did NOT want to spend the weekend in the DARK. So i rode my bicycle as fast as i could and tried to pay the outstanding bill. Part of the charge listed was a reconnection fee. I told them i would pay the electric bill BUT not the reconnection fee because i was never DIS-CONNECTED !!!!!
well this IS the holiday season and i should have known better.
Today the power company stopped by yet again and said "PAY THE RE-CONNECT FEE OR OFF GOES YOUR POWER"
What DA .....
sooo my friends
"IT'S THE THOUGHT THAT COUNTS" .. REALLY
I'm on my way to pay to re-connect what never was dis-connected because of the power of suggestion !!!!

Tis the SEASON

Tis the season of eyes wide open .... some call it Christmas; but for me it's an opportunity to witness other peoples behavior and reflect upon my own.

Today, i hit the mother lode going to the office Christmas party.

I work at the Ministry of Transportation .... and due to the sinking of the ferry boat "Princess Ashika" there has NOT been a normal day at the office since the boat sank on the 5th of August, killing as many as 78 Tongan women and children trapped inside the sinking vessel.

Nothing has defined my experience in Tonga more than the open hearings that are transcribed word for word each day by "THE ROYAL COMMISSION OF INQUIRY" .... something unheard of ever before in Tonga ... a total transparent inquiry ... It could very easily be called "The Ship of Fools" ... but what i find even more amazing is that no one ... and i mean NO ONE that i have spoken to, reads these transcripts ...

I find it AmaZing that people continue to accept "SAI PE" (everything is KOOL) ... ≈still sailing on boats that are at best borderline seaworthy and if you read the transcripts you have got to wonder about the crew members from the Captain on down to the lowest of the ship hands trained in Tonga.... the transcripts are compelling!!!!!!

But this is Tonga; and there we all were at the Christmas party ... drinking ... eating ... laughing... it was a very tough year .... but who would have guessed ... it was a time to celebrate a birth ... maybe a new beginning.