That said, to be honest, I was a little wary of some of the things I raised in telling the story in my book. While writing it initially, then again later while revising it, I did take advise from a number of people, on one part in particular, as I was worried about being sued by some huge corporation with more money than sense. Luckily - so far! - it looks like everyone’s cool with it.

I’m sorry to hear of your predicament, Debbie, but it is getting to be a familiar tale that people tell these days, I’m afraid. Other friends from Care2 have added comments saying how they’ve struggled/are struggling in the present economic climate. No doubt you’ve seen them if you’ve checked out a few of my posts.

I know what it’s like to have to choose between ‘luxuries’ like food or heating, believe me. It’s no fun, is it? But the way I see it, there’s no need for it either. All over the world, good people are stuggling to live when there’s more than enough resources for everyone. Hence, this blog! I don’t mean we should give endlessly to freeloaders, but why should people work two jobs and still not be able to feed their family, etc? It’s wrong. And no one seems to give a damn.

But that’s a subject for another day. In fact, it’s quite close to the post I’ve drafted for this coming Thursday!

Hope your week starts well,
Steve

God bless 7 billion people.

Steve

I’m pleased you’ve found my blog interesting. I do my best to make it not just informative, but entertaining and thought-provoking. I find that if you intrigue people, hook them with an idea, then it’s much easier to connect with them and make them connect with the issue you’re raising awareness of, as I said above.

It’s heartening to hear you’re educating your children about what’s going on in the world. We need that. We need conscientious parents to ensure they bring their children up to be well-informed and to be able to tell right from wrong - good on you!

I’m afraid I don’t recognize the book you describe to be able to help you with a title. Sorry.

With regards to my book ‘What if…?’, I’m sure you’ll love it. As you’ll have seen on my website, it’s a thriller in its own right, but it also has environmental and human rights themes running throughout which are integral to the plot and to making the characters work, so it’s very much a book of our time, dealing with issues we should be concerned about. I’m sure you’ll love it coming from Care2 and caring about the world as you do.

Thanks for visiting and being so kind about my work, Debbie. Have a great weekend,

If you take the child ascpect out of the equation to include adults too, CGF, the statistics for unecessary deaths are far, far higher. I got a load of spreadsheets from WHO as research for my book as my central character actually references these figures and I wanted to be as up-to-date as possible.

Yes, ‘natural’ deaths, i.e. dying of old age, are more or less unheard of in quite a few countries. In some African nations, most people rarely see through middle age, let alone enjoy ‘twilight’ years that are taken for granted in the West.

CGF, thanks for popping back.

Steve

It has been suggested the number is higher, way higher. The argument runs deep enough to suggest with at least some conviction, that every death is un-natural since no one seems to die of natural causes anymore. Although it seems disingenuous to say, there are factual elements of truth in it.

I was so blown apart by the statement, that I didnt pay any attention to who the advert was from and dont remember which channel it was that “played” the advert.

http://boards.msn.com/UKNewsboards/thread.aspx?threadid=803939

Msn Uk have a thread running about child poverty at the moment.

When I posted this “news” story on Msn Uk forums, they deleted it.
QUOTE
Discussion started by pam film buff on 05/10/08 02:46 AMWhere are 3.9 million children in poverty. I do not believe the onus is on the government or indeed the tax payer to supp …
END QUOTE
They also banned me, from signing up any msn/hotmail/www.live.com accounts.

As you’ll see by some of the other comments, this one simple post has illicited all manner of emotions in readers in just a few minutes. Emotions are good because they make us care, make us think, and, sometimes, make us act. This is precisely why I wrote it the way I did - to connect with people and make them connect with the dying children.

As for my book, I’m afraid you won’t find it in your local store, but there’s a link on the post here -

http://www.lionsledbysheep.com/2008/10/02/thanks/

- that links to a webpage where you can buy my book at half price for the next few days. There’s reasonably priced international shipping available so if you want it, now really is the best time to buy it.

Thanks for your interest in my work, Wai Min, and for adding to the conversation on my blog. Have a great weekend,
Steve

Oh.. Ok.. Now I get it. This is embarrassing… :)

I guess from now on, I should read your blog posts twice before I comment. :)

Well, I am starting to call you Steve now, not Mr Steve as you wanted. Hope you are glad. :)

Anyways, I was just curious, the book you wrote.. What if? is it sold in Malaysia?

I don’t frequent the bookshop very often, so I am not sure.

But do reply to me, if it yes, I might buy it! :)

This is all for now…

Im anticipating your next post!

Have a nice Sunday..

Cheers,

Wai Min

This was never intended as a factual report of a real incident. Sorry if you thought it was.

So what was intended to be?

We never hear of this shocking story from our media, probably because it goes on all the time and people think, hey, it’s just filthy, black kids with flies crawling all over them who’ve no future anyway, so what’s it matter?

But…

If it’s clean, white godfearing children who go to church, love their parents, and will grow up to be doctors, firefighters, pilots… Children just like they once were, just like those they now have. Hell, we gotta save those children!

The intention was to twist reality so people could see the truth for what it is - an atrocity!

You’ll find you have to read every single word of my posts or you can easily miss something vital and come to the wrong conclusion. Sorry that happened in this case, but I’m sure you see my reasoning now. Oh, and please, a simple ‘Steve’ will do - we’re all friends here so no need for formalities!

Thanks Wai Min. Have a great weekend.

CGF, thanks for stopping by and for helping to spread the word.

Yes, I’ve covered over-consumption and greed before, and will do again.

Sorry, you’ve had problems on the forums, etc, but I know what you mean - here’s what some compassionate individual said when he reviewed this very post on one social network: “Awesome! The world is overpopulated as it is, what’s a few million n*gger deaths going to matter?”

Nice guy, huh?

You’re right, the system is broken. Badly. It just needs enough people to realize and then we can go about fixing it. It’s just that ‘enough people’ bit that’s the problem!

Let’s hope that day is not too long in coming.

Thanks for adding to the discussion. Enjoy your weekend,
Steve