It's the ordinariness which is most affecting when horror strikes like it did in Paris on Friday night. We were in Paris two weeks ago- I took this photo of the Eiffel Tower. A fortnight later it's a warzone. There were scores of people blown up by suicide bombers in Lebanon as well but what's closer to home is what gets the coverage, due to its nature and the ordinariness. Going to a restaurant, sitting outside a bar on a Friday night, going to a football match, standing in a gig venue watching a band. These are the things we take for granted. I saw a tweet yesterday morning, re-tweeted by Tim Burgess, by a woman looking for her boyfriend, a photo of a man with long hair, smiling. Nick Alexander was doing the merchandise stall at The Bataclan. Later on it was clear he'd been killed. She also tweeted later, a picture of the two of them. Killed while selling t-shirts. Sometimes it's the numbers and scale of atrocities that affect the most and sometimes it's the human details.
Good post. I tried to write something but couldn't but last night Max came up from his gran's and said something that made me explode. I fear that this attack is going to be just the "evidence" that the right and those afraid of different colours and cultures have been waiting for to impose their views on those easily persuaded.
ReplyDeleteI saw the tweet about the poor guy on the merchandise stall and it brought it home to me. How many times over the years have I stood talking to a guy just like him buying something and looking forward to seeing the band.
It is utterly heartbreaking!
Thanks for writing this SA. You've perfectly expressed the feelings of so many of us, I know.
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