LET'S ALL WORK TOGETHER.

By today's standards I suppose I had a strange upbringing.  To me it wasn't strange and it certainly wasn't at all unhappy.  My father and mother had separated (but were never divorced as there was no such thing in Ireland then) since before I was born and I had not too much to do with my father, though I did see him from time to time.  My father was much more interested in his many "lady friends" and his Masonic Lodge activities than he was with his family or my mother.  He regarded my mother as being somewhat immoral because she was an actress - an attitude I have always regarded as somewhat hypocritical in view of his own lifestyle.  My mother's attitude to this was a dismissive "whatever!" and she would leave it at that as being something not worth pursuing.

Because of the above, we lived with my goodly grandmother who by that time had been widowed for the second time.  We had very little money but because of a couple of minor titles in the family (thanks to grandmother) we would never be considered poor - we were just living in what was then called "genteel poverty", so we never did without anything.  We always had a parlour maid - a woman by the name of Margaret Styles who worked for my grandmother for some 20+ years, as well as a general maid who did the cleaning - both of whom I am sure we couldn't really afford, but that was not the point.   They were staff my grandmother felt were absolutely necessary to life.

We had certain routines in our household.  Everyone had to eat breakfast and dinner together.   There was no such thing as "grabbing a bit of toast" and dashing off. Margaret Styles would ring a bell when breakfast was ready and grandmother would arrive in the dining room only after my mother, sister and I were seated.  When Margaret poured the coffee for grandmother and mother (my sister and I had a glass of milk) Margaret would solemnly place the morning paper in front of grandmother who would instantly turn to the back page and read the obituaries.  Then she would turn to the second last page because she said there you found the most interesting pieces of news.  I would watch in silence waiting for grandmother to comment on some choice piece of news.  My sister seldom spoke much at meal time for some reason that I never understood, and I wasn't allowed to, as grandmother would say "at meal times, little boys should be seen but not heard."  In later years I have agreed totally with that statement!

To return to the fact that grandmother looked at the second last page before the first is an interesting fact.  Her reasoning for doing so is equally true today, and I mean literally today.

I see most of the newspapers - American, European and Asian on line and I also check daily the websites of CNN and BBC World News.  Today on all of those sites two bits of extremely important good world news were relegated to the very end with a very small mention.  On CNN and BBC news they received totally no mention at all, which will, I am sure, make certain that not too many people will have heard about them.

We hear daily about the European Union which has drawn together so many countries in Europe over the years and which has been the helper of maybe four or five countries in the area that suffered from the economic crisis during the past few years,  Many may argue against the EU, but if it hadn't existed, countries like Spain, Portugal and Ireland might not have been able to pull through. I omit mentioning Greece here as that country's problems go further than just requiring a bail out.  Then there is the North American Free Trade Area which has resulted in many jobs being created - though it too is opposed in some quarters.  Finally I mention ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) of which this country - Cambodia - holds the Chair for 2012.  ASEAN has proved a boon to its 10-member nations by mediating in border disputes, promoting trade between the countries and generally being a "family" of nations.

This morning's "back pages" proclaimed the news that China, Japan and South Korea (none of these three are members of ASEAN) during talks in Beijing have agreed to begin negotiations for a free trade pact between the three countries.  This may well scare some western countries as they could feel it might make China more powerful.  But the west cannot control the whole world.

Mr. Wen Jaibao the Chinese Prime Minister said "The establishment of a free trade zone will unleash the  economic vitality of our region and give a strong boost to economic integration in East Asia".  The Japanese Premier - Mr. Yoshihiko Noda went further and said "Economic co-operation was essential to maintaining the Asia-Pacific region as the growth centre of the world economy".  These are really quite strong words from both Premiers especially when you consider the fact that relations between any of those three countries has not been exactly what one would call "amicable" all the time.  However, it is such a good sign that now they can work together for the benefit of each of their countries.

The other item today on the back pages was the fact that the members of the Gulf Co-Operation Council would be meeting in Saudi Arabia today to discuss transforming their six nations (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) into a union similar to the European Union. The Assistant Secretary of the Gulf Co-Operation Council, General Abdel Aziz Aluwaisheg said "The vision is to include common approaches to defense, security, political and economic interests".

To my mind these two announcements on the back pages are of a huge significance to the world as a whole.  It is so encouraging to find that at a time when so many are only too happy to argue and throw barbs at each other that countries - some of which were once at complete logger heads with each other (don't forget Japan occupied the Korean Peninsula under anything like humane circumstances for several years) are now trying to work out situations where they can work together for the good of all their people.  Naturally it cannot all be finalized over night.  Things have to be worked out.  There will be certain differences of opinions from every side and there will have to be compromises made by each country.  There will be some wins and some losses by all, but the fact that they are trying and eager to work together is so good.

Let these countries be a lesson to everyone. Once the various regions of the world who have a common goal work together to settle their differences and in turn work for peace and prosperity of their countries, then it will not be too difficult for the different regions to work together.  So - "Let's do it".  Let's all work together for the benefit of all and make this world a better place.