impeachment crises, the growing death toll on the roads and the seemingly endless march of crime seem to dominate the news and our day to day awareness.

Indeed, there is plenty that is wrong with the world and Bermuda, and these problems seem to be particularly jarring at Christmas, supposedly the season of goodwill.

So it is refreshing to read in today's newspaper about three "angels'', people who quietly spend their lives helping others less fortunate than themselves.

Very often, many of us only take time to help people at Christmas -- but Michael Fox, Norma Thompson and Ivan Smith do it all year round, as do countless others in the community. Bermuda would be a poorer place -- not materially, but spiritually -- without them.

As Mr. Fox says in the story: "People say that they don't know what they can do to help others, but just getting involved or even just saying `I support you' can make a difference.

"There are lots of ways people can help.'' ACT OF KINDNESS EDT Act of kindness "Christmas angel'' Michael Fox and Governor Thorold Masefield deserve credit for giving a very special Christmas present -- enabling a dying mother to spend her last Christmas with her family.

As we report in today's news story, AIDS sufferer Janice Dayle-Smith has been released from prison to spend Christmas with her family in Canada, where three of her children were deported in the summer.

This was a decision taken by Mr. Masefield at the urging of Mr. Fox and they should be commended for it.

The question of the imprisonment of AIDS sufferers is a difficult one. On the one hand, people with the HIV virus are very often already living under a death sentence, which would appear to be punishment enough.

On the other hand, unscrupulous drug barons would be quick to manipulate people with terminal diseases if they felt the "mules'' would "get away with it''.

As president of the Court of Appeal Sir James Astwood said during Mrs.

Dayle-Smith's appeal of her sentence: "If we start treating AIDS sufferers leniently, we will only encourage the use of couriers who are suffering from a terminal illness.'' Few would disagree with that opinion. But justice is also compassionate, and when inmates are nearing the ends of their lives, an act of kindness, as in Mrs. Dayle-Smith's case, is only right.