Attack | But I Smile Anyway...

I had a different thought for this morning’s post initially.

Something light and fluffy, you know, the typical Ritu-style…

But I woke to news that really affected me.

Another incident.

Another attack.

Another, possibly-terrorist, attack in London.

And no, Isis won’t be claiming this one.

This time it was a white van ploughing into worshippers leaving the Finnsbury Mosque in East London, as they had finished their prayers to signal the end of their fast that day.

One dead and eight injured.

Senseless.

Revenge.

More innocents killed or injured, for what?

Most of those affected were probably law-abiding Muslim citizens, who don’t condone all the previous attacks. True Muslims, who follow their religion with respect.

Yet Islamophobia and misinformation has led to someone thinking tit for tat, an eye for an eye, is the answer.

The driver of the van was detained by the public until the Police arrived.

When will it all end? Really?

Revenge is not sweet
No. It leaves a bitter taste
Of poison spreading…
Humanity, where are you?
Compassion, this world needs you.

Ritu 2017

Thoughts For Manchester

What news to wake to this morning.

at least 22 dead, including children, and 59 injured (so far) after an explosion outside the Manchester Arena last night, following the Ariana Grande concert. And there are still some classed as ‘missing’…

Apparently a bomb like bang was heard on one side of the arena and then a swarm of concert-goers from that side descended on the other side in terror.

There were many children at the venue too, going to watch their favourite singer. How horrific to have to go through this… I’m just glad this happened outside the venue… imagine the carnage had it been inside.

The singer is also shocked, and devastated that something like this happened at her concert. She is ‘broken’.

It has been classed as a suspected terrorist attack.

Thanks to the emergency services who swarmed to the site on duty and worked selflessly through the night to safe keep the rest of the city.

I thanked goodness that I was not aware of anyone who was there, but my thoughts went to my friend who had been to an Ariana Grande concert a few nights previously with her two daughters… What must she be feeling…?

I wondered… do I mention this to the children? They are 9 and 11 and may be too young to be exposed to all this, but then I know they are aware of all the other horrific attacks that have happened over the last year or two. That’s the joy of the internet, and gossip.

My Lil Man is at secondary school so the older children would definitely know, so we watched the news unfolding this morning.

My Lil Princess is an Ariana Grande fan, and will always sit and watch her songs, and look for information about her. It was inevitable that she would find something out. Better I explained the tragedy to her than her finding out alone, because I knew what her reaction would be.

Tears.

First thoughts from her was “Is she [Ariana Grande] ok?” and since then she has been asking me “Why?”

Isn’t that the question on the lips of everyone?

Why all this senseless killing? Not just from last night, but all these terrorist atrocities? No God wants you to kill innocents. That is no God indeed, if He is asking you to kill the life He created…

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all concerned.