Manchester ~ 22.5.17

Today I am addressing a heavy subject…
I’m pretty sure we’ve all heard the news.

We all know that another horrific attack took place, in Manchester, on Monday night.

If you haven’t heard it yet here’s what happened: 

Police say suspected attacker 22-year-old Salman Abedi detonated a home-made bomb in the foyer of Manchester Arena as crowds were leaving an Ariana Grande concert on Monday evening. Twenty-two people were killed in the explosion, and 64 were injured. Metal nuts and bolts were strewn around the floor among bodies and the smell of explosives was in the air, witnesses said. The so-called Islamic State group has claimed responsibility, but this has not been verified.

 A fifth man has just been arrested and the attacker himself died on the scene. 

– taken from BBC News

I heard about this attack at around midnight on Monday. I opened Twitter and saw the hashtag PrayForManchester and I instantly felt sick. I knew what was coming and ,sure enough, as I scrolled through my feed hundreds of people were offering condolences, support and love after a terrors attack had taken place.
At first the details were a little hazy and some people said it was simply a large balloon that burst or a speaker that blew. 
I stayed on twitter for an hour or more and watched the details become clearer and clearer as the knot in my stomach grew tighter and tighter.

‘Police are treating it as a terror attack’

‘A nail bomb was detonated…’

‘Children lost, injured and dying’

‘The uk is now on a critical terror alert for the first time since 2005’
It tears me apart, knowing that an eight year old girl died. An innocent child with her whole life ahead of her, possibly attending her first ever concert, simply wanting to watch her idol perform! It tears me apart knowing that she will never get to go home. Her mother is in hospital, in a coma. She does not yet know that her daughter is no longer with us…
An 11 year old girls aunt sacrificed her own life to save her niece by jumping in front of her. 
Parents, waiting to pick up their children, killed. Those children are left with no parents. 
Those were innocent children, going to experience what was meant to be one of the best nights of their lives.
And what really maddens me is the fact that some people actually have the nerve to get angry at Ariana for not refunding their money after she cancelled the rest of her tour. I’ve never really been a fan of Ariana but she is apparently paying for the funerals of all the victims, which I think is lovely and obviously far more important than refunding people’s money.
Above all, the thing that I find the most mind-numbingly scary is the fact that this didn’t even shock me.
It might just be he fact that I pay more attention now that I’m older , but I swear the amount of attacks have just been rising. I remember in 2015 when the Paris attacks happened I cried. It was the first time I really realised this sort of thing happening and it was so shocking to me. Before then the only terror attack I knew of was 9/11 (obviously I know there were more but at the time, I didn’t) and I thought that sort of thing didn’t happen anymore (again, I was young, I didn’t know) l was so scared. But over the past couple of years it seems to have become normal to hear about these attacks on a regular basis. By no means does that make it any less devastating than any other attack but you catch my drift.
In times like this it is more important than ever to remember that hate does not conquer hate.
Please don’t go pointing fingers at people until you know the facts. Be kind and respect others. Comfort the people affected by these tragedies. 
And the the most important thing to remember is that it’s not all hate and darkness.
I saw some absolutely heart warming responses to the situation, for example, taxis turned of their meters so people could get home safely. #RoomForManchester was a thing; people were offering a safe place to sleep, charge their phones, or simply just a cup of tea. Hotels and inns were taking in lost children. The sheer amount of people offering their thoughts and condolences.

This really hits close to home as I’m sure it does with hundreds of thousands of others. Please feel free to comment how you feel about all of this! I’m really sorry if this was offensive in any way, I hope it wasn’t.
My thoughts are always with Manchester and anybody who has been affected by terrorism. 💔
Thank you for reading

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