By Susan Gubbins

This newsletter comes at a time of tranquility…both here in the country and in our personal lives. East Timor is at peace—I say that having lived through a period of occupation and its end with killing and burning, and a bit later with civil ‚war‛. I refer to this as history—but is it?

Fifteen years could be looked at as the present. In the year of 1999, we ended the occupation phase and I wonder just how many people in the world know where East Timor is!! So today I reflect on the present. Silently I say a prayer of gratitude for the BBC TV show on every hour ‘BBC BREAKING NEWS’. It has given me an education of the present. Now Libya is not just Gadhafy but a whole nation of people striving to be free and play a part in their country. The ‘Arab Spring’ for me was a real spring season, with freedom cries pushing up and bloom-ing. That was a moment that not only put those nations on the map but also showed unforgettable images of their people.

The struggle goes on, but thanks to the BBC I see peoples’ yearning and suffering. Now the Mideast for me is no longer vague but a sea of humanity. I went to high school during (what has been called) ‘the apathetic ‘50s’. There was Europe and the Americas in our lessons. Then WWII (which we called ‚The War‛) showed us The East—from a war perspective, of course. It was the US vs. USSR until its break-up. But, let’s not go down memory lane…

My point is gratitude to the BBC for catching me up on our world! We had The West and The East. Now we are filing in the middle. Yes BBC is BREAKING NEWS indeed!