The first blog post I ever wrote was about the Charlie Hebdo attacks in Paris last January. The first time I visited Paris, the city I love the most was attacked during the Boston Marathon Bombings. This past weekend, I was in Paris again when a group of terrorists carried out six separate attacks across the city, taking 129 innocent, beautiful lives and injuring 350 more.
I don’t usually have difficulty articulating my thoughts into words. Writing has always come easy for me. Right now that’s not the case. It has never been so difficult for me to put something into words, but I feel that it’s extremely important to try. To be honest, I don’t really know where to begin with this one. I sat at my computer for an hour just staring at a blank document. I spent another hour writing and deleting. In some ways, there are no words for the horrific acts that transpired this past weekend in Paris. In other ways, there aren’t enough words in the world. The journalist in me wants to give you a look into what it was like in Paris this weekend, but this weekend isn’t about me. Where I was and what I was doing doesn’t matter, because I am fortunate enough to have returned to Spain physically unharmed.
In certain ways this weekend has changed me.. Please bear with me as I use this post to try to make sense of what happened. If you have any bit of light to share, please do, the world needs as much as it can get right now.
I’m usually pretty good at focusing on the uplifting reactions that come about as a result of tragedy, but since I’ve returned from Paris I have felt myself losing a little faith in humanity. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same after this weekend, because for the first time, I was forced to see the world in a light that I don’t want to believe. I’m still trying to come to terms with the propensity, magnitude, and pure evil of Friday night’s attacks. I truly cannot understand how any group of people can be filled with so much hatred that they dedicate their lives to taking those of innocent people. And all in the name of what? I’ve talked with others, I’ve prayed, I’ve cried, and I’ve lay awake at night trying to make sense of it, trying to figure things out – because this type of world is not the world I want to live in. I’ve questioned my ability to take on a career in which I will be forced to face awful events on a daily basis, and I’ve realized the only way I’m going to be able to do that is to find the strength to focus on the good. So here it is.
One of my friends said something along the lines of, “I’m not concerned for my personal safety anymore, I’m just having a really hard time thinking about all the awful things going on in the world, all the people that are suffering, and that there’s nothing I can really do about it.” I agreed completely, because in the past few days I’ve honestly felt like the world was falling apart. Between Paris, Beruit, the Syrian refugee crisis, escalating racial tensions across the U.S. and a multitude of other problems, I was finding it hard to see past any of it. And although most of us personally cannot make political decisions or fight terrorism directly, there is still so much we can do.
We can keep on living.
It’s so easy to become scared in light of events like the ones that took place on Friday night. I take pride in the fact that the city I call home is known to be extremely resilient. They say that Paris is the city of lights and love. It sure seemed that way, even after everything that happened. From what I witnessed I can tell you with certainty that Paris is defiant and resilient.. The morning following the attacks, many Parisians took to the streets, going about life as they normally would. I’m sure they were scared. I was scared when I ventured out Sunday, but to me, resilience is the ability to not allow fear to affect the way you live your life. If we turn away from the freedoms we are so blessed to have, we let the terrorists win. They want to instill fear into our everyday lives. Don’t let them. Keep on living
We can be accepting and we can be kind.
Why are we so afraid of differences? Enough already. Between racial tensions causing chaos on campuses across the United States, to backlash against Muslims, to people whom claim that the media only cares about the Paris attacks because it affected whites. Enough. By doing this we are just causing more problems. We should all (myself included) work harder to become blind to color, race, defining characteristics, and to a social stigma that has divided the world.
We can stop associating the Muslim religion with terrorism.
Not all Muslims are terrorists. Most Muslims are not terrorists. And the terrorists whom claim to be Muslims are so twisted and absorbed in their extremist views that I refuse to even recognize them as associated with any religion. No legitimate religion calls for the killing of innocent people. It breaks my heart to read news stories about arrogant people lashing out at Muslims across the world. The Muslim religion itself actually directly forbids the killing of innocent people. Check out this inspiring video of a Muslim man in Paris after Friday’s attacks.
We can stop helping ISIS instill fear.
Stop sharing these ridiculous Facebook articles with titles like, “ISIS releases list of cities on attack list.” First of all, you have no idea where these articles are coming from. Second of all, don’t even read them. Third, if you’re going to read them, don’t share them. All it does is cause others to become fearful which is what ISIS wants in the first place.
We can fight to find the good in the world.
Though I admitted that I have had times of darkness these past few days, I have tried to seek out the good. And after coming out of a moment of darkness, I realized how much good there really is. I’ve seen a lot of Facebook statuses lately saying things like “what a terrible world we live in,” but the good far outweighs the evil, and the world we live in is not a terrible place. Yes, terrible things happen, but for many of us we live in an absolutely beautiful world where we are free to go to restaurants, to bars, to sporting events, and concerts. Most of us are able to live our lives freely, and usually without fear. It is a shame that some people hate our freedoms so much they feel the need to attack them, but we can’t let that keep us from living. People from across the world have come together to support one another, and to support Paris, and that in itself is beautiful. So is this video.
I cannot even begin to thank everyone who has reached out to me over these past few days. Your kind sentiments have been more of a comfort I could ever express in words. To my parents, you were my saving graces this weekend. To my amazing study abroad friends, thank you from the bottom of my heart, I wouldn’t want to be on this amazing, crazy, and at times scary journey with anyone else. My deepest condolences go out to the city of Paris, and to all those who’s loved ones were taken far too soon. My heart breaks for you, but good and kindness will always prevail.
All my love,
Alex
I don’t usually have difficulty articulating my thoughts into words. Writing has always come easy for me. Right now that’s not the case. It has never been so difficult for me to put something into words, but I feel that it’s extremely important to try. To be honest, I don’t really know where to begin with this one. I sat at my computer for an hour just staring at a blank document. I spent another hour writing and deleting. In some ways, there are no words for the horrific acts that transpired this past weekend in Paris. In other ways, there aren’t enough words in the world. The journalist in me wants to give you a look into what it was like in Paris this weekend, but this weekend isn’t about me. Where I was and what I was doing doesn’t matter, because I am fortunate enough to have returned to Spain physically unharmed.
In certain ways this weekend has changed me.. Please bear with me as I use this post to try to make sense of what happened. If you have any bit of light to share, please do, the world needs as much as it can get right now.
I’m usually pretty good at focusing on the uplifting reactions that come about as a result of tragedy, but since I’ve returned from Paris I have felt myself losing a little faith in humanity. I don’t know if I’ll ever be the same after this weekend, because for the first time, I was forced to see the world in a light that I don’t want to believe. I’m still trying to come to terms with the propensity, magnitude, and pure evil of Friday night’s attacks. I truly cannot understand how any group of people can be filled with so much hatred that they dedicate their lives to taking those of innocent people. And all in the name of what? I’ve talked with others, I’ve prayed, I’ve cried, and I’ve lay awake at night trying to make sense of it, trying to figure things out – because this type of world is not the world I want to live in. I’ve questioned my ability to take on a career in which I will be forced to face awful events on a daily basis, and I’ve realized the only way I’m going to be able to do that is to find the strength to focus on the good. So here it is.
One of my friends said something along the lines of, “I’m not concerned for my personal safety anymore, I’m just having a really hard time thinking about all the awful things going on in the world, all the people that are suffering, and that there’s nothing I can really do about it.” I agreed completely, because in the past few days I’ve honestly felt like the world was falling apart. Between Paris, Beruit, the Syrian refugee crisis, escalating racial tensions across the U.S. and a multitude of other problems, I was finding it hard to see past any of it. And although most of us personally cannot make political decisions or fight terrorism directly, there is still so much we can do.
We can keep on living.
It’s so easy to become scared in light of events like the ones that took place on Friday night. I take pride in the fact that the city I call home is known to be extremely resilient. They say that Paris is the city of lights and love. It sure seemed that way, even after everything that happened. From what I witnessed I can tell you with certainty that Paris is defiant and resilient.. The morning following the attacks, many Parisians took to the streets, going about life as they normally would. I’m sure they were scared. I was scared when I ventured out Sunday, but to me, resilience is the ability to not allow fear to affect the way you live your life. If we turn away from the freedoms we are so blessed to have, we let the terrorists win. They want to instill fear into our everyday lives. Don’t let them. Keep on living
We can be accepting and we can be kind.
Why are we so afraid of differences? Enough already. Between racial tensions causing chaos on campuses across the United States, to backlash against Muslims, to people whom claim that the media only cares about the Paris attacks because it affected whites. Enough. By doing this we are just causing more problems. We should all (myself included) work harder to become blind to color, race, defining characteristics, and to a social stigma that has divided the world.
We can stop associating the Muslim religion with terrorism.
Not all Muslims are terrorists. Most Muslims are not terrorists. And the terrorists whom claim to be Muslims are so twisted and absorbed in their extremist views that I refuse to even recognize them as associated with any religion. No legitimate religion calls for the killing of innocent people. It breaks my heart to read news stories about arrogant people lashing out at Muslims across the world. The Muslim religion itself actually directly forbids the killing of innocent people. Check out this inspiring video of a Muslim man in Paris after Friday’s attacks.
We can stop helping ISIS instill fear.
Stop sharing these ridiculous Facebook articles with titles like, “ISIS releases list of cities on attack list.” First of all, you have no idea where these articles are coming from. Second of all, don’t even read them. Third, if you’re going to read them, don’t share them. All it does is cause others to become fearful which is what ISIS wants in the first place.
We can fight to find the good in the world.
Though I admitted that I have had times of darkness these past few days, I have tried to seek out the good. And after coming out of a moment of darkness, I realized how much good there really is. I’ve seen a lot of Facebook statuses lately saying things like “what a terrible world we live in,” but the good far outweighs the evil, and the world we live in is not a terrible place. Yes, terrible things happen, but for many of us we live in an absolutely beautiful world where we are free to go to restaurants, to bars, to sporting events, and concerts. Most of us are able to live our lives freely, and usually without fear. It is a shame that some people hate our freedoms so much they feel the need to attack them, but we can’t let that keep us from living. People from across the world have come together to support one another, and to support Paris, and that in itself is beautiful. So is this video.
I cannot even begin to thank everyone who has reached out to me over these past few days. Your kind sentiments have been more of a comfort I could ever express in words. To my parents, you were my saving graces this weekend. To my amazing study abroad friends, thank you from the bottom of my heart, I wouldn’t want to be on this amazing, crazy, and at times scary journey with anyone else. My deepest condolences go out to the city of Paris, and to all those who’s loved ones were taken far too soon. My heart breaks for you, but good and kindness will always prevail.
All my love,
Alex