Tragedy in Manchester

by: Sara Nigro

I've been deabting on what I should write my blog post about for the past week and I've written a couple of pieces that I was prepared to settle on, until a couple of minutes ago. About an hour ago, maybe less, I received news about an explosion in Manchester right after an Ariana Grande concert. Despite this tragedy occuring on the other side of the Atlantic, I feel somewhat connected to this and very heartbroken over the actions of others. In February I went to an Ariana Grande concert on the same Dangerous Woman tour all of these people were at and I had a great time, unfortunately for those who went to see the show tonight, this night will be tarnished with this tragic memory. In addition, I sincerely sympathize with those who were present at the concert and planned to have one of the best nights of their lives by listening to their favorite music, dancing to the songs and seeing and possibly meeting their idol.

When horrible events like this happen, the question usually left for us to ask is why would someone commit this act of murder? Who was the person who decided that killing and injuring dozens of innocent people was a conscious decision to make? For all we know, it could've not been a terrorist attack but maybe a speaker explosion. Despite the immense amount of rumours and ideas of what may have happened or caused the explosion, this is an event that makes us all take a step back and think about the world we live in. Some people might say that they hate the world, we live with horrible people and we must learn how to control these attacks from reoccuring, yet they do nothing about it. Others are now scared for their life and feel unsafe walking to the bus stop and hanging out at the movies. But what can they possibly do about it? Nothing. They can either choose to live the rest of their lives in pointless fear, or decide to walk fearlessly into the unknown which is the future. I feel both ways towards this, but despite my fear and loss of faith in humanity, I am choosing to have a positive outlook on this and see how disasters pull people apart to push others back together and help those in need.

Although their is so much pain and hurt in this world, there is also so much kindness and love that makes you forget about the devastating times. And do you want to know what's really amazing? The strength that humans have when they come together for a common cause to help others. Through social media there are thousands of people trying to help anyone in Manchester who is currently in need. For example, there are people who live near the area who are offering free rides to those who can't get a ride back home safely. Also due to this tragedy, there are so many missing children that the Holiday Inn decided to let in and allow to stay with them until they can be reached by their family members. And something that I believe is truly incredible, is how by posting pictures of missing people on the internet and the support of others ALL OVER THE WORLD sharing their posts, they were able to find many young people. At the moment there aren't any stone cold facts, just millions of people from across the world sending their sympathy and hearts to those whose hearts are more broken than their own.

+If you'd like to become more educated on this incident, here are some links below+

http://www.cnn.com/2017/05/22/europe/manchester-arena-incident/

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/05/22/world/europe/ariana-grande-manchester-police.html?_r=0