Firstly, I’d like to start off this post by thanking everyone who checked in with me to see if I was alright! It was heartwarming to see the amount of people concerned for my safety. Everyone, you rock.
As you all know by now, overnight a series of coordinated terrorist attacks struck Paris, leaving over 100 dead and many more wounded, including almost 100 critically wounded. Just recently, ISIS took responsibility for the attack.
I luckily was nowhere near the attack. That evening, I headed home to eat some food, finish an assignment due by midnight, and sleep. I didn’t even know about the attacks until my roommate and I started receiving messages from friends and family back home in the US checking to see if we were all right.
Because I really was not involved and unaware of what was going on, in addition to the fact that I am here in France as a visitor (even if I am an extended one), I feel very much as though I am an onlooker in this situation.
Like any person, I’m experiencing a range of emotions, including anger, frustration, confusion, sadness, etc. However, something that always comforts me in times of tragedy is to see the support of people around the world.
So, even when tragedy strikes, it’s still possible to see that humans, for the most part, are good. Here’s how we know,
#porteouverte was trending on Twitter last night. This “open door” hashtag allowed people who needed a place to stay because they could not return to their homes, hotels, wherever, to direct message people who were willing to let people stay at their place for the night and find shelter.
The Facebook check in (that has been used before during other events, it’s not new) was a really cool idea, allowing everyone to alert their friends if they were safe. In addition, you could alert other people’s friends if you knew that they were not in a safe situation.
The images of monuments and places around the world lit up in bleu-blanc-rougein solidarity with France. It’s a wonderful way to show support for the victims.
The witness accounts of people going out of their way to help the injured proves that selfishness is not our modus operandi.
After terrible events, I will always hear people talking about how morally bankrupt our world is. But, I never see that. There has always been bad people who do terrible things. But the outpouring of love, support, and help during tragic times shows me that the world remains, on the contrary, a morally rich place.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own share of frustrations or things that I am worried about as a result of this attack.
I am worried/concerned for the victims and their families. My thoughts go out to all the victims of these attacks.
I am worried that these attacks will cause a period of extreme Islamophobia, as typically happens after a large terrorist attack. So let’s all remember that there billions of Muslims around the world who are just as sickened by these actions as the rest of us.
I am worried that the extremist, right wing, racist, Islamophobic,anti-immigrant political party will gain a lot of seats in the upcoming elections in France during the month of December. This political party is not the answer to France’s problems.
*These regional elections just occurred. France has two rounds of election. The far right partly dominated the first round of the elections in France. Happily, they were defeated in the second round and hold the majority in no regions in the country.
I am worried for the refugees. I am afraid that they may become the scapegoats of this situation.
*During the days following the attack, the French president François Hollande reaffirmed that France would remain committed to accepting refugees.
And finally, I’m frustrated that the media failed us this week.
Did you know that in Beirut, Lebanon, ISIS carried out a terrorist attack a day before the attacks in Paris which also resulted in massive casualties? Maybe not. Or that a bunch of people were killed by a terrorist attack at a funeral in Baghdad?
While the Paris attacks have been getting wall-to-wall coverage, these attacks were barely mentioned. No Facebook check in was put in place for the victims of these attacks. I’ve haven’t seen anyone making the Lebanese flag or the Iraqi flag the backdrop to their profile.
So why is it only an outrage when ISIS kills Westerners? Why don’t world leaders tell us that the attacks in Beirut and Baghdad are also attacks against humanity?
We must stop looking at this problem as a conflict between Western Nations and the Middle East. ISIS is killing Middle Easterners too. Middle Easterners want an end to this terrorism too.
I stand with Paris, and with Beirut, and with Baghdad.
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