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Then as I checked social media the news of Paris started to filter through and the horror hit. Followed by the attacks in Kenya and in Lebanon. And the world we live in all of a sudden is a horrible one. Not that we do not live without horror on its own scale in this country. It's just that the co ordinated effort to destruct the most charming city hits hard. Paris is supposed to be the city of love, the city of romance and art. I wonder if Paris will ever be the same again?
Other terrors of years past reminds us just what the horrible consequences are. I immediately remembered London and the co ordinated attacks there. And of course there's 9/11 and the wars that followed on that. Today the news came that France hit ISIS. A new war has started - or are we continuing the war on terrorism on another front?
I am not political commentator and this post is without a doubt not meant to be political at all. As the photos of drowned immigrant children hit us hard, the photos of Paris hits too. I have no answers, there are simply none.
Our grade 4 has to know what is going on in the world. They write monthly general knowledge tests for which they are not supposed to learn, but to take notice of the world around them. When your children are smaller you can protect them against the brunt of the news. At 10 I can not do that any more. There will be talk about Paris at school today. They have to deal with the horrors the world present. No matter how we sheltered them from movies, games and other media that we see as violent, we have to present to them a reality that is just as violent. This is the part that I find most difficult. Sharing the horror and trying to explain this world we live in.
Terrible! We could also not stop watching the awful news this weekend! what do we say to our children? What I choose to focus on is the spirit of love that shine through for most people that was involved in the massacre! They comforted each other, opened their houses to people that was stuck and most thought only about their loved ones and that they wanted to tell them that they love them!
ReplyDeleteWe do view things very differently as a parent. It's one thing to process the unthinkable yourself, but to have to talk through it with a child is completely something else.
ReplyDeleteAt not-quite seven, we haven't talked with the girls about what happened in Paris. They know about 9/11 (since we traveled to New York last summer), but that it "was a long time ago". I know it won't be long, but for now, I can choose not to frighten them.
Hugs to us all.
We are lucky that ours are still a bit young and don't need to know yet. On occasion Nicola does pick up.on a news storie and if she asks me questions about it I try my best to explain. For instance whenever we stop at a traffic light and there's someone begging for money she says that Jacob Zuma must have stolen theirs to build himself a castle! ;-) (that's not how I explained it, but it's not wrong is it?)
ReplyDeleteI simply don't understand people, if you can even call them that, who take innocent lives for some sick, twisted and cruel "organisation" Words escape me. The human race is it's own worse enemy. It's so hard to see good in all of this. How can there be good in the taking of lives.
ReplyDeleteI am reminded that at times like these we need to keep our eyes firmly on the Author and Finisher of our Faith...or else we will fall into despair and fear xx
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