I was watching and reading of the horrific happenings in Paris this last week and how so many innocent lives were lost, and just thinking of how this is happening every single day of our lives yet due to it finally encroaching on our western bubble of safety it is finally front page news. I had friends visiting Paris at the time but aside from this it was the story of one man which really struck me hard as an incredibly family oriented person, as he lost a member of his family in every atrocity which occurred that day. I saw a poem by Karuna Ezara Parikh which just reiterates my point to perfectly and so eloquently:
'It is not Paris we should pray for.
It is the world. It is a world in which Beirut,
reeling from bombings two days before Paris,
is not covered in the press.
A world in which a bomb goes off
at a funeral in Baghdad
and not one person's status update says "Baghdad",
because not one white person died in that fire.
Pray for the world
that blames a refugee crisis for a terrorist attack.
That does not pause to differentiate between the attacker
and the person running from the very same thing you are.
Pray for a world
where people walking across countries for months,
their only belongings upon their backs,
are told they have not place to go.
Say a prayer for Paris by all means,
but pray more,
for the world that does not have a prayer
for those who no longer have a home to defend.
For a world that is falling apart in all corners,
and not simply in the towers and cafes we find so familiar.'
I am lucky enough to write this from my warm house in a country not directly affected by war and strife yet there are people affected every single day elsewhere. I understand how truly awful the Paris attacks were and how so many people have visited and therefore find it more relatable but there is a huge need for focus on the reality of so many situations. I am not pretending I'm perfect and I can do nothing but agree that it is so entirely impossible to let these atrocities consume our lives and that there is also a need to move on but pray for them, think of them, offer wishes and greet these people running in fear from everything they've ever known, their lives, their families dead or alive in an attempt to live another day, avoid this negativity thrust upon us and thrive in this international 'one' that we are becoming.
I know this is slightly different to what I normally do, believe me I know, but I seemed to find that there was nothing more suitable to write as of now than this.
