Friday, March 12, 2004
Well, you may remember I said i would blog a little about our trip to Madrid, and I will, but not today. Today I am going to ramble on about other things.
Yesterday, I had a message, asking if I had seen the news about madrid, at that time I hadnt but within minutes, I had seen and read news, of the horrific news of the bombings in Madrid.Through the day I watched further coverage, each time as the events and results of the attacks were recounted the devastation and impact became increasingly worse.
It took me back somewhat to 9/11.
Yesterday was filled with lots of different emotions, firstly there was the shock, the horror, the disbelief and anger, that such news brings. Where ever we are in the world, when we hear of things happening like this or any tragedy we naturally feel for those involved, those who have lost lives, those who have been hurt, relatives of those people. Yesterday, we worried about our friends in Madrid, those who we had spent time with only last week. Fortunately, they were safe, which was a big relief. They may have known people who were hurt, but as yet we do not know that. There was also some relief, maybe selfish relief, relief that we were in madrid last week and not this week. My mind raced about thinking about how our family and friends would have coped if we had been in Madrid this week, how worried and anxious they would be. I am not sure why these thoughts happened, there was no need for them, no point in thinking that way, but never the less, it crossed my mind. I also thought about some of the people we didnt know as such, but who we had met last week. people who served us in cafes and bars, those who helped us out when our grasp of spanish wasn't as good as it could be, those who smiled as we attempted to order things etc, and I found myself thinking, some of those people, who had helped make our holiday in Madrid, memorable, fun, and enjoyable, may well be amongst the victims.
When things like this happen, in essence they are impersonal, in that I mean, individuals have not been named and targetted as an assasin for instance would do, the terrorists do not know the people they will hurt, to them they are anonymous. For those affected by the attack, the victims, it is very personal, I do not need to explain that, it is obvious. Further still, to everyone else, to the ordinary person in the street, to the citizens of the world, where ever we are it is personal, in a different sort of way. By that I mean, it could just as easily have been the bus you were on yesterday, the office block you work in, the train station you pulled into. It reminds us just how much at risk we all are, from these mindless, evil terrorists.How they attack the freedom and safety of individuals, like you and me.
Don't get me wrong, I do not wander round day to day, thinking an attack is inevitable, I do not let such things influence what I do as such, e.g, I wont stop flying cos someone may have put a bomb on the plane. What will be will be, worrying about it won't stop it happening if it is going to, and why let these evil people stop us doing things.
Ok I still have things to write about what happened yesterday, but I am going to take a break, so for now
# posted by gilly @ 3/12/2004 12:17:00 PM 
PEZZIE
