The City Of Love

Over the last 48 hours the city of love, Paris, was turned into the city of pain and sorrow, uncertainty, maybe fear and terror. It feels like watching a Bond movie. But it’s terribly real. In times like this it’s difficult to grasp what has happened. I’m sure that there are many posts out there about this at the moment. Honestly, I did not check my Reader just yet. I want to keep my mind free of everyone else’s thoughts. This time I don’t need any inspiration from the outside.

What happened in Paris should make us think once more. We get forced into no longer feeling free or safe in our own country, we are forced into worrying when we go out. We are forced into fighting back, maybe officially starting a war, which then feeds the ones that want to hurt us.

It makes you think: We fight terror with terror. Which, frankly, seems the only way to stay on top of it, or better keep up with it. But is it really? Is it really the case that people want to kill? Is it really the case hat people want to live in constant terror?

I think it’s not.

No normal person wants to live in constant fear. No normal person wants to go to war, wants to kill. No normal person wants to see their child go to war or get killed. No one! We all know that there are some pretty strange people out there who use everything they can for their cause. Religion is probably on top of the list of tools to use to easily manipulate masses. And it’s a pretty damn strong tool. It can be bent and stretched in all sort of directions, it can be defined in a way that suits every one and every cause. And it gets people to listen.

It should make us act.

By acting I’m not talking about stepping up and use firearms and bombs. It’s time to stop! Stop the wars, stop the terror. Not with violence. Violence just leads to more violence. We need to change. We need to stop hating. It’s long overdue.

We need to stop hating what we don’t understand. We need to stop following blindly what we are told. We need to start questioning and making up our mind. We need to keep being kind.

While I type the last paragraph there’s so much pain and sorrow and fear inside of me. And I hate how much this got to me. How much it does to me. As there are doubts. Dangerous doubts. What if we can’t keep being kind? What if we are forced to follow? What if will no longer be free to make up our mind, to take decisions and question?

How can we conquer terror without using force?

It makes me sad and angry that we seem to get pushed into this corner where the only chances to get out seems to be shooting ourselves out. It makes me sad that I have doubts that there will be a peaceful way out of this. But deep inside I’m angry. And I want to protect what I have and what I cherish. I want my kids to grow up in a sorrow free world, in a world where they can do what they like to do, talk about what they want to talk about, wear what they want to wear. In a world where they can be free.

I don’t want them to live in fear. I want them to see the beauty of this world. I want them to be happy.

Where are we heading? How can it be that we can no longer feel safe when head out the house although we don’t live in a war zone?

I so want to stay positive. I so want to keep seeing the beauty. I so want to believe that we can change this all. I so want to believe that we can still be kind to each other and that we can still trust our neighbor. I so want to believe that this world is a good world. I do…

When you look at Facebook today, then the French flag is everywhere. There seems to be a huge support for the France, Paris, the victims and their family. It’s a stand against those who initiated it. And although it seems like there’s a massive amount of people standing up against terror in this quiet way, I wonder what it will actually do to the ones that simply don’t care. I’m pretty sure that most of the Facebook users that changed their profile picture in a Paris related way have the same worries and thoughts that I do. And it’s sad to say that the terrorists successfully planted that seed of fear into our society.

I don’t want that fear to grow bigger. I don’t want to allow it to take over like weeds take over in a garden if you let them. Seeing the French colors everywhere is a sign. A sign that we are not willing to give up. That we stand behind the victims. That the western world sticks together. We are not ready to give up the good live we have. We are not ready to give up our freedom. We are not ready to give up love and peace and being kind.

I’m not giving up!