Hello my loyal and non-existent blog readers!
In ASTU class (a writing course taught at UBC) we have read and are discussing extremely loud and incredibly close by Stephen Foer. This fiction book centres around a young boy named Oskar who’s father dies in the twin towers during 9/11. Although this book may be a fictional account of one young boys experience dealing with losing someone it brings to light very real issues. Thousands of people lost friends and family in the tragedy of 9/11. That is thousands of people who grieved and suffered the impact of loss.
It’s easy to become de-sensitized about past terrorist attacks. Especially those that are not in own country and are not personally connected to. It’s easy to just think “Wow, what a terrible thing. I hope that never happens again.”
But something similar, although with less fatalities, happened just last week.
The Charlie Hebdo incident. Brief summary for those living under a rock: Charlie Hebdo is a weekly French magazine which is known to publish anti-racist and anti-religious articles. On January 7th 2015, Islam extremists raided the Newspaper’s headquarters in Paris causing 12 fatalities and 11 wounded. The attack was in response to controversial cartoons of Mohammed in the Hebdo magazine.
What ties this all together for me is I was in Paris when the 9/11 attacks happened. I distinctly remember sitting in my hotel room watching cartoons on TV when all of a sudden every channel was showing the planes crashing into the twin towers. Every. Single. Channel.
Paris, being a large and highly populated city like New York felt threatened and the shift in the atmosphere was almost tangible. For me, that was the closest I have ever come to truly experiencing a terrorist attack. I lived in Paris last year and I still have friends living there and I see through their instagrams, facebooks, snapchats and twitters the realness and chaos of what is happening over there.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that in Canada we have become so accustomed to feeling safe that we never imagine ourselves at risk for a terrorist attack. Canada is known as a peaceful country and it would shock the entire nation if another country, or group of extremists, attacked us. Reading extremely loud and incredibly close made me realize that after I watched those planes hit the taint owes on my TV, thousands of people, if not the entire nation, had to deal with the painful aftermath.
Sorry is this blog post was a bit scattered but I have the flu so I will blame any incomprehension on the medicine.
http://www.euractiv.com/sections/eu-priorities-2020/911-charlie-hebdo-eus-response-terrorism-311264