[Jeff Higgins]

Thanks for the perspective, Le Roux. You are right in that it is very difficult to ascertain what life in another country is like through media reports alone. Hell, I think I have a pretty good handle on what life is like in America, but in following the daily news and what they choose to report, I don't recognize my own country. Sensationalism is the order of the day; it's what makes the vast majority turn on the tube or pick up the paper.

I have only one distant acquaintence who ever lived in South Africa. He was well "up the ladder" in a rather large bank; doing quite well for himself, living in Johanasburg (I'm sorry - spelling??). He lived in a very good neighborhood that was actually forced, in the end, to fence and gate itself off from the rest of town. It was advised by the police to not leave except to go to work, and then to have an armed escort to do so. Simple things the rest of us take for granted, such as grocery shopping, going to the movies, etc. were all impossible. A service was provided for the grocery shopping; everything else was mail-order, and most of the time it never made it to their house. He finally sent his wife and kids here, to New York actually, and remained there long enough to tie up loose ends on his business dealings. He literally walked away from his house and property. Let me emphasize this is not hearsay; I have spoken repeatedly with this man's mother, a very good friend of my wife's. He claims many, many successful people have been forced into a similar course of action. I had never heard of such a thing through any other source. Maybe not sensational enough to be widely reported, or reported at all.