#PrayForParis

Annie
Dec 24, 2015
2 min read

Hello readers,

So Molly and I have started our Junior year of college, and we haven't been able to update as much as we would like. As I'm sure you all have heard, Paris recently suffered some acts of terrorism; one of the places being Le Bataclan. The night of November 13th, the Bataclan was holding a concert, with many people enjoying themselves.

I've been attending concerts for quite a while now, and I can honestly say that concerts are my safe space. This past summer in Chicago, Molly and I attended a 5 Seconds of Summer concert. Their drummer Ashton Irwin mentioned that their concerts were a safe place where he want's everyone not to worry and feel accepted and happy. This moved me and I completley agree. I've always looked at concerts as a place where you can go and feel secure.

On November 13th, one of my friends and I attended an All Time Low concert in our college town of Grand Rapids. Throughout the night we kept getting updates about the tragedies happening in Paris. About halfway through the show lead singer Alex Gaskarth stopped the show to shed some light on the happenings. He reinforced the idea of wanting these places to be a space where people can come to feel safe; escape the harsh realities and tragedies of the outside world and enjoy music with other strangers who enjoy the same music. I understand that there are so many more important tragedies that have happened around the world and in these Paris attacks, but just one of the small that got to me was the fact that these people lost their safe space. It's a small blip in the whole scheme of things, but one of the small pleasures people can take for granted. The fact that on November 13th the people of France and thosesuffered terrible loss, while my friend and I enjoyed some of our favortie music just seemed wrong. We were all at a safe haven all connecting with music; but in two places across the world, we went home safe, while some people lost their lives and security.

No matter what place you consider safe or protected, people half a world away lose this security and suffer more than most of us can imagine. I think it's important to not take these things and places for granted and to keep in mind how lucky some of us are.

There are places all around the world where things like this happen everyday and it took Paris to open our eyes to it. I have been reflecting on this the past week and wanted to share it with you.

I hope all of you are safe and okay in this crazy world we share and live in. Merry Christmas to all of you and Happy Holidays