On Friday November 13th, the City of Lights faced a great amount of darkness. An attack on Paris left 129 innocent civilians dead and hundreds more fearing for their own lives.
ISIS, a jihadist extremist militant group, claimed responsibility for the attack and has since threatened the recreation of ones similar to it across the world. While no clear target has been made, college students committed to studying abroad next semester fear of what destruction could unfold during their four months away. Now many of them are reconsidering their decision. While I am one of those students who fears what may happen, I am not one who is reconsidering my decision. Here’s why:
The innocent people who were attacked that night in Paris were unaware of what would occur. They went about their Friday night like any other—they attended a concert, a soccer game, had dinner with friends and family—none of them expected this attack, nor did any of them deserve it. There is never a rhyme or reason with a group as unstable as ISIS. There’s no “heads-up”—no warning sign. It’s impossible to see what’s coming, no matter how disastrous it may be, but the second we let the fear of them stop us from living our lives is the second we let them win.
Radical groups like ISIS gain power through the fear of others. They attack mercilessly in hopes to numb a nation, knock its people off their feet, and leave them unwilling to fight back, giving them the opportunity to seize the control they were after the whole time. Their hope, end-goal even, is to scare us into relinquishing all power and control, and we cannot let them do that.
On September 11th, 2001, thousands of innocent Americans died at the hands of the radical militant group Al-Qaeda. Their attacks aimed at New York and Washington D.C. were unforeseen and catastrophic. With nearly 3,000 dead, the nation was devastated and fearful for what was yet to come. It was in a state of panic, until President Bush spoke:
“These acts of mass murder were intended to frighten our nation into chaos and retreat. But they have failed. Our country is strong.”
The nation grieved for those lost lives for so long and it still does today; but we persevered. President Bush knew that we’d be letting the enemy win if we fell weak in a time of crisis, so America stayed strong.
Today, we face a similar situation. As President Obama said, “This is an attack not just on Paris, it’s an attack not just on the people of France, but this is an attack on all of humanity and the universal values that we share.” With that said, we must all stand united against the immoralities of ISIS and show them we are unafraid and resilient, and the best way we can do that is to push past the fear and continue to live the life of freedom we are so blessed to have.
I send my deepest condolences to those victims of the attack in Paris, as well as to their friends and family suffering in this difficult time. Pray for Paris. Pray for the world.