Yesterday I was jolted out of my little bubble of feeling fairly safe living where few people own guns and large scale public shootings are rare and I am just not up to a fluffy blog post full of lovely photos of Croatia so here is a more serious post.
I hadn't had the news on all day and did not know about the horrific killings at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris until a friend, who lives in Paris, posted on facebook "Hi everyone, don't worry I'm fine and not hurt" Unfortunately in today's world seeing a post like that pretty much instantly tells you something horrible has happened and sends you scurrying to a news website for information. And what awful information it was. There is something pretty freaky about armed men, clearly well trained and with lots of planning, killing a dozen people in only minutes and making an escape.
Today I got a message from a friend in the US. He has been planning to come across the pond and visit Paris this fall. He wanted to know if I felt that was still a safe idea, given recent events. I fully understand why he would ask the question. It is unnerving seeing these things--and not being on the ground in Europe, it can be hard to grasp how much threat there really is in day to day life, or how likely this type of atrocity is to be repeated.
Seeing the question, I had to think for a moment. Would I visit Paris today?
Or, would I send one of the kids? Marika and someone she recently worked with from the Paris Girl Scouts have been talking about having Marika go out for a couple of days and attend one of their local events and talk to the girls about what sorts of things older girls can do. If an opportunity presented itself next week, would I be okay with her going?
The answer I came to, pretty quickly, is YES. Yes, I would visit Paris. Yes, I would be willing to send Marika (or Rio if he had a reason to go). There is, no doubt, an increased risk from extremist Muslim factions throughout the Western world these days, but I do not think that risk is any higher in Paris today than it is in New York, Berlin or London. Furthermore, every day risks of violent crime from just random people (not terrorists) is, quite honestly, probably lower in Paris than in many US cities so the overall risks remain low.
I was also pretty impressed with the French Police, being able to name the attackers so soon after the incident. Not everything can be stopped or anticipated, but the response showed me that French security personnel are on the ball.
So, in my opinion, if you were thinking of visiting Paris, go ahead and make that trip. Keep on going out and going on with life. Living in fear doesn't make us safer, only more anxious and then we are all victims in exactly the way the terrorists want us to be.
I have loved seeing Parisians refuse to cow tow to those attackers, even as they remained at large last night (see the photo at the top of this post).
I have been happy to read condemnation of this violence by leading Islamic groups. I have been grateful to see so many people honouring those who were killed for simply using art and non violence to express their opinions by speaking out and refusing to be silenced themselves. And keep on noticing that there are a whole lot more good guys out there than bad, focus on that, on those thousands in Paris last night, on Boston Strong, etc.
I love this image, created by Lucille Clerc--I like the idea that every time extremists try to silence varying opinions, the opposition and opinions will only multiply and become louder.
--Hadley
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