Ensemble
You might have noticed my absence from the beginning of the year on, but for the first time since I decided to start this blog, I was not feeling like writing about fashion, beauty or anything related. Did not want to share my #ootd, or my favourite dresses at the Golden Globe awards. For the first time my passion for everything of this world was fading, because it was and is being overshadowed by something so much bigger than that, that left a hole in my heart, and probably in many of yours too.
As you know, I have been living in Paris for about a year now, and this city is where I feel at home, which has become my home. I do not only feel Belgian and Dutch, but also French, as this language surrounds me everyday, and I carry Paris in my heart. I was having lunch with my friends from school last Wednesday, and the horrible news of the terrorist attack at the headquarters of Charlie Hebdo came in. We were all in a state of shock, and knew that this was something much bigger than a extreme reaction to satiric cartoons. On Friday, I was shopping with my friend at Lafayette, and then the news of the two hostages came in. Many people, innoncent people, were killed, for reasons that I cannot and do not want to comprehend. After this, I was sure France would never be the same again, that 2015 would be marked as a big black page in history books, a year that started in horror, shock and many innocent lifes taken.
But France is a country so different from many others. I like being Belgian, but compared to what I saw yesterday on the Parisian streets, packed with people from so many different nationalities, ages, cultures, I have to conclude and admire how everyone was standing up for their rights, all together, tolerant of everyone, how the streets were fuller than I ever saw before, filled with positive people, chanting how they were not afraid, how our unison would defeat hate and terrorismn. One of the most beautiful things I saw was how a couple of police cars had to pass through the crowd, and how they were welcomed as the true heroes they are, everybody clapped, and the respectful atmosphere was one of the most impressive I have experienced so far. The look on the policemen's faces was incredible.
At first when the news of the different attacks came in, and we experienced days of pure terror, I thought Paris would forever be a city of sorrow and sadness, and France would lose its nationalism it is so know for, but the Marche Republicaine yesterday proved the complete opposite. It made me believe in humankind, made me feel strong because I knew there were some many strong and brave people arround me, and that our nation is not entirly lost. Let it be love and freedom that conquers hate and racism, and let us spread the nationalism I felt yesterday spread through the entire European Union, and the world. Parce que nous sommes tous Charlie.
