The war. We’ve heard it all before. I’ve learned all about the First and the Second World War in high school. That’s what I thought war looked like for a long time. I mean, if it didn’t look like that, it wasn’t really war to me. And then I learned about the Iraq war. I don’t know much about this one, but I think that was pretty murderous. And then, around 2 years ago started the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It was a blood bath. Children were being bombed daily, and being aimed on purpose. That’s something that doesn’t happen in the European countries and that was really shocking to learn about in school. I was deeply revolted about that, but there was nothing I could do. It was a conflict taking place in a country I knew nothing about for reasons I didn’t understand. It’s basically a war of religion and of territory, and I don’t have to worry about either of those.
On Friday 13th of November, I was watching TV and at 11pm, I looked at my phone and opened Twitter. What I saw on it was curious, I didn’t understand what was going on. It took me around 30 seconds to understand that something bad was happening, in MY country. I opened google and looked at the news. There was a shooting going on in the streets of Paris, with already nearly 25 people brutally murdered.
At this moment, panic was starting to grow on me. What the heck was going on? How? Why? Who? I ran downstairs, knowing that my parents probably knew nothing about it yet, given the fact that it only had been going on for an hour, and it was only being talked about on twitter and TV for the time being. When I told them that 25 people had been shot in Paris and that it was still going on, they jumped from their seats and we turned on the TV. And it was even worse than what I would have imagined.
People in the French Stadium were in a total panic, running down to the football field, the streets were filing themselves with Policemen and Army guys. They were talking about how people were bleeding out and there was a hostage situation in a concert hall. 1200 people, held hostage, with who knows how many dead people. And the number of dead people on the street was doing nothing but rising. 28, 30, 33, 35, and finally, 40. It stopped there, but that was only on the street. Because yes, there were also terrorists killing people at a restaurant nearby, and shooting people at a café. Still no word of the people in the concert hall. I was being eaten up inside by fear and stress and horror.
By that time, I had already called my dad and knew he was okay, but I had no idea if my uncle and auntie (and their 1 year-old baby) were safe. It had been an hour since I had put the news on and it was only getting worse. They were taking injured people to the hospital, and already, the social media was all over it and people from all over the world were sending love and courage to us. That really helped by the way, so thank you to all of you who tweeted about it. Seeing the buildings from all over the world lighting up with the colors of our flag was heart-warming.
Around 1 A.M., we started seeing statements of the people who had gotten out of the concert hall. It was horrible. Inside, so many people were dead and there was blood everywhere. People would never be able to watch their first child walk, or never get the chance to walk down the aisle. They would never turn 18. They would never meet their grandchildren. I was feeling so much rage against the people who’d done this. What had we done to get that? How in the world did these people deserve to die? Who did those terrorists think they were to decide if it was time for those 129 people to die?
When we heard that 7 of the terrorists had blew themselves up, and later, when everything was calming down and no one was being killed anymore, when there was nothing left to know, to do, I finally went to sleep. And I was fucking scared. Scared of how many people would be dead when I woke up, of how many people would be announced as in an “emergency state” or “between life and death”. I was scared I would wake up and the world would have completely changed… I was supposed to go out with friends this Saturday night, and changed my plans in fear of being blown up. I live in France and that shouldn’t be something I think about. But it is, now.
The day passed “calmly”, if I shall say. The government men and women were engaging conversation, trying to find solutions to the threat we were facing, because there are 11.000 potential terrorists in France that we can’t afford to watch. And then, on Sunday, the president announced that they had bombed a village in Syria, named Racca (the unofficial capitol of ISIS). Well, what they said actually, is that they had targeted and bombed the terrorists training camps, commandment camp, and weapon supply. We haven’t heard anything about civilian losses, but I’ve been seeing all over Twitter that “France is awful for bombing innocent people” or that “bombing innocent people to get revenge for the death of innocent people is not the solution”. No, it’s not. But you have no proof that France bombed civilians. For all we know, no civilians died in the bombing, only terrorists, since the government targeted the terrorist’s camps, and not the whole city.
Plus, I’d like to point out how France actually sent 20 bombs nearly 4 miles away from Raqqa on Sunday, so not in the town hall. And they said that the presence of civilians can make them push back strikes. France is not the USA. France is not Syria, and I’m pretty sure Syria has killed more people in Racca than France has killed in the whole country. Yes, you heard me right, Syria stroke Racca on September 6 and November 25 of 2014 and killed, in total, on just those 2 days 148 people, in majority civilians. So who’s more to blame in this, Syria or France?
Finally, let me give you some numbers, just so we’re clear. On the one hand, you’ve got France, who started taking part in the conflict against ISIS on September 2014 and has since then, stroke around 200 times in Iraq. On the other hand, you’ve got the USA who has conducted 6,353 strikes as of November 12 of 2015 in Syria and Iraq. So tell me, who do you think made the most damage? Who do you think killed the most civilians? Who do you think is to blame the most? Who’s lost 129 civilians because of ISIS just last Friday?
We’re at war; that has become really clear. There’ll be civilian casualty, that’s inevitable. But I’m praying there’ll be as little as possible.
#PrayForParis #PrayForSyria #PrayForBaghdad #PrayForLebanon #PrayForTheMiddleEast #PrayForPeace #PrayForTheWorld
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