Thoughts in the wake of this weekend

This post also represents a departure from my usual style of posting, but as a student of global studies, I wanted to weigh in on the events of this weekend and the fallout. It’s no more than my two cents on the matter.

I was very shocked and horrified when I saw the news of what happened in Paris on Friday night. In my way of thinking over the past few years, France was very “safe.” I struggled a lot my freshman year with the choice of where I wanted to focus my area studies and spend my year abroad. I really wanted to apply to study at the Political Science Academy in Paris, and experience the movable feast. But I also wanted (and felt I needed) to spend this year growing in a way I knew would be difficult in Paris. I chose Senegal to get a better sense of the larger world, because I want to work in development, and to experience a rather different way of life.

Though Senegal is a stable, relatively healthy republic, West Africa is more or less synonymous in the news for Ebola outbreaks and armed conflict. Even though I felt comfortable in my decision, I know a lot of people felt I had chosen the less “safe” option for my year abroad, and at times before coming here I struggled with that myself.

Do I feel less safe here after what happened in Paris? No less than I did before, which is no less than I feel at home in the US. It would be very, very wrong to lump the actions of the Islamic State with the piety and peace practiced by the other Muslims around the world, which include 12.5 million Senegalese, who look down on militant Islam the same way any sane person would. I have nothing but utmost respect for Muslims and Christians alike who continue to find a path to a better world using some of the same holy texts that others have used to declare justification for atrocities.

But really, I’m not safe. None of us are. The reason all of the US and Europe is in an uproar over Paris is because it was, like 9/11, another glaring reminder that it can happen here, in “civilized places.” It doesn’t just happen in countries that still haven’t recovered from years of colonial rule, in places we have already written off as zones of violence and irresolvable conflict. Terrorism is not just their problem, and we are foolish to assume violence is ever so far from our door as to not merit our attention.

I do not wish to offend anyone with my stumbling around these matters. Death and human suffering in any respect are not to be taken lightly or compared against each other. What happened in Paris was an atrocity, and my heart goes out in mourning to the victims and their families. But I must also mourn for Beirut, Syria, Iraq, Palestine, Mexico, and so many other places. I mourn for the hundreds of Americans killed by police violence every year. I mourn for all the unnecessary deaths due to violence and all other preventable causes. I take a moment to remember all the suffering that happens every day, and then I move on and live the rest of it to the best of my ability. We must mourn, but we must also go on living with peace and without fear. Wherever we are.