Thoughts on an unforgettable Friday

Could this happen here? It was a simple, innocent and yet profound question posed to me by a captain and a team leader today – November 16, an impossibly beautiful fall day for this late in the year, mid-60s, sunny, guys running shirtless on the cusp of winter. 

Could this happen here? He was referring, of course, to the terrorist attacks in Paris. I chuckled and smirked a bit at the seemingly naïve question. Of course it could happen here! It could happen at any moment and any place. You can create agencies such as Homeland Security. You can take precautions. You can boost security. You can add police. You can make plans. But if terrorists want to cause terror, terrorists can and will cause terror. Any place. Any time. Exhibit A: Paris.

Where were you when you heard about this horror unfolding in the City of Lights? We were on the bus back from Boston on Friday. Our first thoughts were with our track family members studying abroad in Paris – Bryn and Jenn. Word spread quickly via social media and text (Really? Text? Intercontinental? I know, I’m an Old Fart) that Bryn and Jenn were safe and they were OK. Phew.

But then the horror unfolded, literally by the second. Everyone was glued to their phones: Refreshing Twitter each second; getting Social Media updates. Cuesta took my laptop, kept refreshing the CNN page as the updates flooded in each and every minute. It got worse and worse, more and more horrific by the second. Gives me chills to think about it; I don’t need to rehash it here. We know how bad it was. We know how bad it is. Terrorism. Can happen any place, any time, without warning. That, essentially, is the definition of terrorism.

Last Friday, our day started with news of the lockdown at Marist -- caused by some dimwit, punk-ass loser who took to Twitter threatening serious harm on the Marist campus. It shut down our campus world for several hours. The threat of terror and terror are similar, but they are not one in the same. Some people took to Social Media to hand-wring over “what’s wrong with this world” when someone can Tweet threats at Marist in the morning and then cause mayhem in Paris in the afternoon. Come on, man! Equating the two is so wrong and so simplistic that it is barely worth a mention here.

We can change our Facebook profiles to the colors of the France flag. We can hashtag our thoughts and wishes for healing and recovery. We should not feel obligated to do anything to “make a difference” … except maybe to pray for healing and pray for love. It’s funny. Maybe it’s my age or my simplistic way of thinking. But oftentimes, I turn to Classic Rock song lyrics to crystallize my thoughts. Here’s what song popped into my head today: Supertramp's "Give a Little Bit": 

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
I'll give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my love to you
There's so much that we need to share
So send a smile, and show you care

Give a little bit
Give a little bit of your love to me
Give a little bit
I'll give a little bit of my life for you
Now's the time that we need to share
So find yourself, we're on our way back home

Do we need to retaliate, do we need to go to war against the terrorists? That's not for me to decide. Maybe, just maybe, we should all just pray, and maybe we should all just "give a little bit."