Meme pas mal!

Paris, November 2015

Making sense of what happened in Paris a fortnight ago is difficult.  At one level it is entirely explainable.  Some people don't like the West.  Therefore hurting the West, targeting the decadent, the fun loving, the young gig goers, the patriotic football supporters makes a kind of warped sense.  For those foot soldiers involved - well, they did their bit.  For the tacticians behind them, well, any response from the West, from France, Europe and the USA is going to benefit them - a soft response is a win, a hard response is a recruiting tool.

our time has fallen well below, Paris, November 2015

The perpetrators were European with middle eastern heritage, causing confusion for those who wish to blame outsiders and concern for those who cannot understand why anyone doesn't love the West.   Personally I love the West.  There's bits I'm not keen on.  Just the sight of Disney, MacDonalds and Starbucks makes me feel uncomfortable.  Something to do with colonialism - cultural imperialism - coca-colanisation.  It is not totally weird to find a lot wrong with Western society.

 Paris, November 2015

But even if there is much wrong with Western society there is no honour in this murderous assault. No eternal reward.  No glory. Because in the same way that carpet bombing Syria won't make the Middle East love NATO, terrorist acts in our cities won't make us sympathetic to your views.  Hearts and minds, people, hearts and minds.

 Paris, November 2015

But there's always scope to look for the good.  There were less than a dozen terrorists.  There were hundreds of good people - ambulance drivers and paramedics, doctors, nurses, police and soldiers, fire officers and good neighbours, friends and families who went to help.  The world is no more screwed up than it ever was - there has always been good, always been bad.  The Noah story - which predates the Bible - or any of the sacred texts anyone round here is still using - the Noah story tells of a time when people were so bad that the Almighty was happy to wipe all but a single family out.  Five thousand years ago there were holier-than-thous telling their contemporaries that the world was going to hell in a handcart because it was just one big Kentucky Derby. Incurably decadent and depraved.

Paris, November 2015

not even hurt!

 Paris, November 2015

The healing starts with art

 Bataclan, Paris, November 2015

  Spray for Paris, Paris, November 2015

Paris, November 2015

 Paris, November 2015

Emilie and Charolotte Meaud were twin sisters, around the same age as my eldest daughter. They were dining out. They were shot dead.  Charlotte is on the left in the pictures below, Emilie on the right.  If I thought praying would help I would.

Charlotte and Emilie Meaud

 S.E.W.N. Paris, November 2015

S.E.W.N. detail Paris, November 2015

Paris has been rocked by waves, but not sunk.  

Pictures by Mme Akriche. Thank you for sharing