It is a long time since I joined the crowds in France to celebrate a national holiday, but I remember the wonderful atmosphere and gaiety when I took my small son to watch the blooming of fireworks in the night sky, when the ideal of ‘Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood’ was proclaimed and reaffirmed across the land.
I cannot begin to imagine what it must have felt like to see lives, ideals and loved ones maimed and murdered on such a night. My own experience does not bring me close to such horror, though I have endured the interminable, rending heartache and the waiting for news when my child lay near death through an act of senseless violence.
It doesn’t matter ‘why’, though many will cry that word into the night, begging for an answer that will never be enough.
It barely matters ‘who’… the perpetrator can no longer cause harm to others, though many will bear the scars and the grief for the rest of their lives.
It ‘bears the hallmarks of an act of terror’… says a news report. It was an act of terror… though it has yet to be established that it was the act of an extremist terrorist. To those who grieve and to those who wait beside loved ones, to those who hope for news and those who know there is nothing left to hope for, to the orphans and the parents who hold out arms forever empty, will semantics matter?
The horror comes from knowing that this was no accident, that one human being could, deliberately, inflict such horror on another… hundreds of others.
Anger and hatred will inevitably fester. Speculation is already rife. The abomination will be used as propaganda by both extremists and establishment; the stories of the broken will be used to mould opinion.
What should be uppermost in our minds is the grief and the pain of all the victims. A determined refusal to become desensitised to the impact and sheer wrongness of the violence that floods our screens daily… a refusal to see our empathy and humanity eroded by habituation. A refusal to accept that violence can ever be a true answer, no matter what name we give it.
I doubt that anyone has the answer… but I know that change begins with us, each one of us… the shaping of the future lies in our own hands.
What can we do? We, as individuals, are too small to affect the fate of nations… no one of us can change the world any more than a single candle can illuminate the night. Yet a million small flames together shed a great deal of light.
My thoughts and prayers join those of millions of others in the aftermath of the horror in Nice… and perhaps, in that there is hope.
Sue Vincent's Daily Echo 
Well said Sue. Harula x
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Very well said, Sue.
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Thank you for saying this, Sue. You’ve articulated what I’m sure many of us are feeling.
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Thanks, Mary.
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Sue, your words are very profound and spell ‘love.’
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That may turn out to be the only answer, Jean.
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Well said. I hope compassion and ‘Freedom, Equality and Brotherhood’ rule the day instead of hate and retribution.
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So do I, Trent.
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I agree, well said, Sue.
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Thanks, Richard.
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Reblogged this on stevetanham.
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The heartbreak is overwhelming, Sue, and what choice do we have but to be kinder, more compassionate, love with greater empathy, and shine brighter. Darkness cannot stand against light.
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The shadows will swallow the pale gleams, if we we don’t, I fear.
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Thank you for this thoughtful post.
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I’m sorry it had to be written.
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I agree with everything you said.
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Thank you Sue.
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This is a beautiful post. For Garry and I, the most horrible part is that we feel so helpless.
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I think many of us do, Marilyn. We can only choose how we react in the face of such events, while the victims and witnesses struggle with the overwhelming horror that robs them of so many choices.
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Thank you for sharing hope and light in this thoughtful and gentle post, Sue.
Blessings ~ Wendy
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Thank you, Wendy.
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I cannot image the heartbreak of the families, many of whom watched helplessly as their loved ones lives were ended or changed forever. My heart and prayers go out to all.
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Neither can I, Michelle, nor how they will live with such memories.
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Reblogged this on firefly465.
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It is horrifying to realize that one human being did this, and that other human beings continue to inflict so much damage on the world… Thank you for sharing this, Sue.
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It is that simple fact, that one soul can do this, that makes such atricities so hard to bear.
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Eloquently and compassionately put Sue
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Thank you.
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There are almost no words left with what has become of the state of this world, but I hope your eloquent words will resonate and spread through the universe. Viva La France! ❤
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Words never seem enough at such moments.
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❤
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