The Enduring Condition

Never can fault the news
for being a bore. It's those endless
human interest stories that tend
to arrest the reading public's
attention. Violence against women
is one of those topical points of 
public interest, from the issues of
trafficking teens and women of
foreign derivation, to child marriages,
infibulation, rampant sexism,
predation and rapes, honour killing
and women put out of the misery
of life by the boyfriends and
husbands who care so deeply for
their well-being that murder seems
the only option. With age, we are
told, comes wisdom accompanied
by the philosophy of eased emotions
and a relaxation of tensions. Sad an
interview with the 100-year-old man
who bludgeoned his wife to death
is not possible, since he then
knifed himself quite successfully,
leaving the reader more than a 
trifle puzzled that yet another
supposition has withered in the
reality of the human condition.


Elmwood Park, N.J.
Prosecutors say a 100-year-old man
apparently killed his 88-yr old wife
with an axe as she slept in their northern
New Jersey home, then killed himself in
the bathroom with a knife. A motive 
for the attack remains under
investigation.