During the summer of 2005, my family and I were on sabbatical in Europe. We arrived in London at the first of July--in time to walk through Hyde Park during the Live 8 Concert.
We then flew to Paris for a few days, meeting up with a friend who is a Green Party politician from Germany. Since we were only in Paris a few days, we left the majority of our luggage in storage at our London hotel.
We were scheduled to fly back to London on July 7. As we took the train to the airport in Paris, our friend text messaged us, telling us that London had been bombed.
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There were no televisions nearby at the airport in Paris, so once we checked in, we called our parents and my office to let them know we were OK. Rumors were flying throughout the waiting area about the bombings.
We flew into London with no problems, but we were told that we probably would not be able to take trains into the city and that most of the city was in lock-down mode. We called our hotel to let them know we might be delayed and were told that the Heathrow Express had just opened, so we grabbed that train and walked the rest of the way to our hotel.
My family and I live in Ohio--no where near the sites of 9/11, so this was our first experience with being near a terrorist attack.
Our sons were young at the time: ages 13 and 9. We didn't want to frighten the boys, but we also wanted to be honest with them.
We had still planned to be in London for a few days before beginning a 3-week roadtrip of the United Kingdom. We could have hunkered down in our hotel room, fearfully staying off the Tube.
That didn't seem like a viable option. Terrorists are given the name "terrorist" because they are in the business of terrifying folk. So, the next morning, we took the Tube (as best as we were able; many stations were closed) to continuing touring the city.
Riding the Tube on July 8 was fascinating. The riders were all subdued and everyone was watching one another. Fear and distrust had settled over the city.
Now, fast forward to today: the fourth anniversary since that terrible day. A memorial was unvieled at Hyde Park, remembering the 52 people who died that day.
A link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/...
What captured my imagination the most about the memorial is that the columns are both individual and collective. Names are not attributed to individual columns and they are clustered into four groups--in memory of the four separate bombs that ripped through the city.
Perhaps that is what I want to remember today: terrorism injures and kills individuals AND harms communities/nations. We must mourn those who died, but--I feel--we cannot live in fear. My family chose to get onto the Tube less than 24 hours after bombs tore lives apart. If I had to do it all over again, my choice would be the same.
Peace, Becky