Man is the cruelest animal.
It’s not the world that’s messed up; it’s those of us in it.
So if you’ve been watching the news the past few weeks, am sure you’ve heard about the cruel atrocity that happened in Manchester, in my town, at an Ariana Grande concert, on 22 May 2017 at 22:31 BST.
Where a 22-year-old male suicide bomber detonated a deadly explosive packed with nuts and bolt for maximum damage at the MEN Arena where children and adults were attending an Ariana Grande concert. 22 people were killed including children, 59 injuries, and some still with life-threatening conditions.
It took a couple of days for the whole shock of it to wear off!
It was just unbelievable that this horrible evil thing happened in my city. Couldn’t even begin to imagine the way the people that lived through it were feeling, the parent, or the children.
Or the people that were injured. Or what the families and relatives of the people that were killed are even going through. I mean I wasn’t even physical there and I was a wreck. My heart broke a million time over and again when the police and News started sharing the details of those killed.
I mean it was probably the last thing the emergency services personnel’s on call that night imagined, or what Ariana Grande expected to happen at one of her concerts.
I first heard about it when my sister WhatsApp me and then called me just after it had happened, asking if I was home or in town because it was on the news that there had been an explosion. I was just getting ready for bed, I remember just telling her am home and it was probably nothing bad.
Shortly, after I hung up, I could hear sirens, getting louder and louder, going past my place. It wasn’t really the first time or a surprise to me, I hear one at least every night. But I had a nagging feeling so I thought I would at least check and see what was going on.
Just to be on a safe side I Google Manchester explosion and only one article was online about the incident. It was very vague, it mentioned the concert and a reference to it probably being a speaker that exploded. Thinking nothing more of it, I took my tired self to bed. Unaware of just what was going on just 7 mins walk from mine.
Until my phone woke me up at around 2 am or so, there were quite a few missed calls from my mom, my sister also, my brother, a few messages from friends and a Facebook safety check notification. But most importantly, the sound of a helicopter was unmissable, and that was when it dawned on me that something was really wrong.
The arena was very close to me, only a 7 minutes walk. I used to run up and down the stairs outside it on Sundays during summer, it was my best exercise place to go. I used to walk past the same area the incident happened sometimes on my way to work if it was raining, or for a MacDonald run, or to connect to Victoria station.
It was a very terrible thing to happen. Sure it has been going on for a while now re Turkey, London, France, and much more, but when it happens in your city, it brings in a new reality.
Now every time I hear a siren, I cringe inside a little. I go to town now a little bit paranoid and looking out for anyone in bulky clothes or with a backpack so I can keep a very good distance.
And just a few weeks after. There was another incident in London.
There were a million questions going on in my head. But the loudest was why? Why? Why? Why?
Why can’t we all live in harmony and peace?
When will the evil and wickedness of Men stop?
I can’t help but feel like the world is just getting worse.
To not be hateful. To not judge one another. To love one another. To not kill. Those are very simple things, but missing greatly nowadays. It feels like we forget what it’s like to be human and re-evolving back into animals.
There is no peace, even though we want it… even though we want it so badly. When you look back in history, there was always tragedies, wars, slavery, genocides, and etcetera. It like nothing has changed, it just took on a new form. We are too quick to get angry, be hateful, judgemental and resort to violence.
Sure we are all so different but surely we can all get along. Surely we can all imagine, imagine a place where we can live peaceful days with no wars or casualties. A place where humans can live as people, we talk and all get along. Yes, I imagine it all the time, sure there will still be death and tragedies but it will be free from the cruelty and wickedness of Men.
I bet a few of you are thinking it’s impossible, but you know what, when I think of the future, that what I imagine. It will take time but I think it possible. When I think of what the world will be like when am gone, for my children’s children’s children, if I ever have any, I imagine worldwide peace.
“When you’re surrounded by people who share a passionate commitment around a common purpose, anything is possible.” Howard Schultz
“How wonderful is it that nobody needs to wait a single moment before starting to improve the world”. Amongst others, this is my favourite quote from Anne Franks. She was one of the Jewish victims of the Holocaust. What amazed me about her was, given what she went through, she still had an amazing outlook on life and people. According to her “ Whoever is happy will make others happy too, and we all live with the objective of being happy; our lives are all different and yet the same.”
There still war going on in some places right now. Children and adults suffering or dying every day at the hands of Men, all for what?
I couldn’t really focus much the morning after the Manchester attack. I should have been working on my website, I had plans to finish it that day, but I was distracted. I was glued to my phone, watching updates. I was checking everything from the News to Facebook, to Twitter and Instagram.
Food was the last thing on my mind. My head was spinning. So I started putting my thoughts to paper and came up with a little poem.
People don’t kill people, really. Monsters do. Monsters with evil for a heart.
Evil is when you use the weak for your own gain and crush them under your foot, all for what.
People’s lives don’t belong to anyone. Anyone, except themselves.
Each and every person you killed had his or her own life to live, and a path on how to use and live that life.
Whether that life was blessed or not, everyone is born into this world
We all come from women, starting out as nothing but tiny cells that grew
Cells that becomes flesh and bones, bones that become people
Some people have families, some are alone in this world, some have young children, some are engaged .. widowed.. married, and some have pets
Some have high hopes.. ambition.. and great dreams.. while other have no ambition at all.
Your evil act ended everything for them.
But you’ve not won. Evil never wins.
Gone they might be but never forgotten, they will live on in our hearts.
I know in the end that these act of evil will never break us. It might make us scared, sad and angry, but I know good will always rise above evil.
And in aftermath of the attack, I have to say I am proud of my city and the people in it. The people of Manchester rallied round to help people caught up in the attack. Sikh temples and hotels offered refuge and some locals opened up their homes, some taxi drivers even waived their fares, so people caught in the attack could get home. The people of Manchester also came out to pay their respect at the town hall and people left flowers and messages in St Ann Square for the victims of the attack.
In the midst of this tragedy, the people of Manchester stood United. They fund-raised by getting Bee’s tattoos and some donated blood. And what amazed me most of all, was that Ariana Grande came back and organised a benefit concert, the One Love Manchester Concert.
We need to stop fighting and start talking. Because when it comes to the state of the world, we’re all need to start getting involved.
I pray that we start to love each a bit more than we do at the moment. But quite frankly, am sick of praying for peace. While I respect each and everyone’s religion and beliefs, I think it’s time that we actually stop hiding behind them. Don’t tell me you’re a Christian and hereby a good person. You’re only a good person if your good to other people. You don’t get a pass just because of what you believe.
It time we stop praying for peace and actually start to build a world filled with peace with our actions. It time we stop relying on others to make a change or bring about change. It time that we ourselves go out and start making the world a better place. And that one thing am going to start doing this year.
I promised to be more supportive, less judgemental, emotionally empathetic and loving to people. We all need to start somewhere, and these are my actions to help bring about a change, however small it might be, I think it’s a start.
What do you promise??? and remember is not about just saying, it about doing.
