I feel tossed between the above extremes as if imprisoned in some crazy electronic game: good outcomes versus bad outcomes; good results  versus complex problems.

Right now, I am watching Australian TV reports and online Thai news as a bad situation unfolds on the streets of Bangkok, where my daughter and grandchildren live. The conflict is bad news. The only good I can see is in the level of restraint being exercised by the Thai military. Things could be much worse and I hope restraint works.

That Supreme Commander General Songkitti Chakkrabat went on live TV mid-afternoon on Monday (Bangkok time) to announce that the security forces would not use violence unless it was necessary is good news. It would be even better if the red-shirted protesters would agree not to use violence either.

Very recently I watched news of the G20 summit. Good news, the leaders agreed to specific goals and objectives. (Some cynics here in Australia had predicted that this meeting would be “just another talk fest”). There is no bad news about the G20, we must simply wait to see when, how (and perhaps if) the objectives are implemented.

The Italian earthquake. That was bad news. Tragic deaths and injuries, homes and livelihoods destroyed, a beautiful region devastated. Perhaps the only possible good is that this disaster has concentrated our minds at the human level, not on issues but on people and what happens in their lives.

Two hostage crises in the waters off East Africa: one involving French tourists, the other centred on a group of US seamen crewing a merchant vessel bringing aid to needy African people.

I congratulate the US Navy on a successful mission to rescue American Captain Richard Phillips, who deserves hero status for sacrificing himself for his crew. His rescue is good news. The French rescue was successful too, though less so as one hostage was killed by gunfire during the mission.

Piracy is a crime and should be treated as such. It’s bad news and cannot be excused. But the situation of our brothers and sisters in Somalia deserves attention too. Families in Somalia have long faced insecurity, violence and upheaval in their lives. Their plight calls for peace making at all levels, from village and town, to regional African and international levels.

Violence always brings bad news, and I’m thinking again of Bangkok Already there have been injuries to police and protesters, let’s not have deaths to make the news even worse.

Let’s remember the lesson of the Italian earthquake: people matter and what happens to them does too. I ask Thai citizens not to add injury and death to an already fraught situation.

If the streets of Bangkok are made secure again, and return to their usual role as throbbing arteries of daily life, then perhaps the deep rifts in Thai society can begin to be resolved through dialogue and respect for the rule of law. That would be good news indeed.

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