This picture was taken a year and a half ago when my family went to Europe over Spring Break. It was after midnight, yet our smiles as we stand in front of the Parisian landmark did not falter. It’s difficult to imagine bearing any other expression because the memories we had of Paris were of walking along the Seine River, admiring paintings at The Louvre, lighting candles at Notre Dame, and myself trying (but failing) to use my mediocre French-speaking skills. I couldn’t imagine myself anywhere else.
The bright lights, hustle and bustle, and laundry list of things to see and do captured me in a way no other city has. So it’s heartbreaking to know the happiness I felt being in Paris could come with so much devastation afterwards.
On Friday, November 13th, during 4 suicide bombings and 6 shootings, 129 victims and 7 perpetrators were killed, and 433 injured. The biggest of these happened at The Bataclan theatre during a rock concert, where 89 were killed and 60-100 taken as hostages. (Source) These terrorist attacks, each happening 5-10 minutes from each other, are said to be responsible by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).
The pictures below and hashtag #PrayForParis quickly spread after the attacks made international news:
{Source}
{Source}
While truly humbling everyone is coming together for this global calamity, Joann Sfar, Charlie Hebdo cartoonist, puts into perspective with this simple drawing how much more of this event we need to grasp:
{Source}
We think that only religion is our guide through this madness when it is for that exact reason ISIL was motivated to initiate the attacks.
Like Joann says, Paris is about life. It is giving toasts, watching fireworks, dancing to music, and having unrestrained happiness. It is crossing things off your bucket list when you put a lock on Pont des Arts, take pictures of the Mona Lisa, or shop on Champs-Élysées. It is climbing the stairs to the top of the Arc de Triomphe and seeing how little you occupy in this world, yet you want to be more. It is knowing the resilience of people in times of grief and doing what you can to keep their fire burning bright. These are other ways to show solidarity and love.
{Source}
Even when cities like Paris, the global center of art, fashion, and culture, are devastated by extremists’ want for retaliation, there is always room for remembrance and hope. The City of Light will never burn out because the rest of the world won’t allow it. That, above everything else, is what life is truly about.
“Fluctuat nec mergitur – Tossed but not sunk.” – Parisian motto
Best wishes,
Kandace
