One in a million

It was one of those events that engulfs the airwaves and overwhelms discussion, debate and analysis for the term of its duration. To witness the tidal wave of people flooding Paris was breathtaking and in its way exhilarating and defiant. To see the massed ranks of European and other national leaders jostling shoulders as they lined up under orders was bizarre to say the least. But it was the individuals in the crowd  who really spoke about the meaning of the rally, not about the niceties of blasphemy versus satire or the political ramifications of the recent tragedies.. Like this man who spoke to camera, with a small boy on his shoulders whose hands can be seen cupping his father's chin. His son, the man explained, had been terrified by the unfolding events as seen on TV and asked if a war started. His father had brought him along today to reassure him that solidarity and togetherness were alive and well and that war had not broken out. It's what we all hope (despite what President Hollande has suggested) and yet we also know that elsewhere, other children and their families are suffering horror and tragedy on an even greater scale, and we in the West are complicit.




Thank you to everyone who left  sympathetic comments  on my last blip. They really were much appreciated and helped me to feel a bit less isolated in my fluey misery. I've been feeling much better today.