Yes we have no news
Events like this really test a blogger's mettle. You come here, you want gritty details, tales of trauma or at least drama. Here's my round-up:
The bus blast was pretty near my office, on a route that I sometimes take, but I was nowhere near; we didn't hear the blast; we didn't see anything. The Boss asked us not to leave the building. By and large we ignored him.
One friend got evacuated from Paddington.
Another's friend's husband got injured, but not seriously.
That is IT. I got nothing for you. Go here instead.
And if you want to know how I am? I'm fine. Completely fine, and by now, pretty unemotional. My inner drama queen was having the vapours all morning, make no mistake, but the truth is it's not that bad. "Over 40 dead and hundreds injured" - that's not good, but it's not that bad. London has been expecting a terrorist attack for at least three years, and if anyone had been asked to predict what would happen under these circumstances, I think we would all have expected higher casualties.
When I left the office tonight, the streets looked pretty normal. Not quite normal - shops were closed; tube stations were empty; there was less traffic than usual, almost no buses, more pedestrians. But in those few pubs and cafes that were open, people were sitting having a drink. In my own office, it was far from a normal day, but by 4pm we were all shrugging it off. Eh, the tube's down, it's hardly news...
I don't know if this makes Londoners callous, or brave, or stupid. Or simply rational. No doubt there will be much puffery about the spirit of the Blitz in the days ahead. Bollocks, say I. We just have a sense of perspective. Consider just a handful of headlines from the past few years: September 11; Madrid (191 dead and 1,800 injured - just for comparison); tsunami; and OH YES THERE'S A BLOODY WAR ON.
40-something dead? Okay.
Of course, maybe this heartless attitude is mine alone. Please don't yell at me. It's not that I'm unsympathetic to those who have been affected. But honestly, worse things have happened.
6 comments:
I don't think you're heartless: I think your reaction is sane, rational, intelligent, and shows a sense of perspective badly lacking in, for example, both the American and British political leadership. On a personal level, this one feels closer to home to me than other attacks because so many friends live in London, but in the greater scheme of things, it's a fleabite. I think the traditional Brit phlegmatic reaction is spot on. Down with hysteria, say I. Far worse things have happened, and are happening all the time, they're just in countries considered less important by our skewed Western media.
You're right. In the grand scheme, it does seem hardly important...
...but then it's not. Even one person who loses a life to violence is tragic, regardless of ultimate death toll.
That said, I am grateful it was on 30-aught dead. As we know, much worse happens daily in some regions. It's a good call to be grateful for the relative safety we enjoy.
It is tragic, I know it's tragic, but I'm resisting the urge to dramatise. This morning, it seemed like Disaster on a grand scale. By this afternoon, it was evident that no, hysterics were not in order. Obviously, I'm not one of the unlucky ones.
And PS: I guess this shows where my heart is, but news like Mugabe's continuing brutality leaves me with far more bitterness and seems far more tragic. Maybe just because it's so much more preventable. Maybe just because southern Africa is still home, and each further instalment of bad news makes me bleed inside. London will survive. London will be fine. I don't know if that's true for Zim.
You are right. That kind of brutality is unfathomable. A moment of terror gets a lot of perspective when confronted by evil. *sigh*
Andrew and I were talking about exactly this last night (skated over to his to avoid dealing with nightmare journey home). By way of comparison, Madrid was an order of magnitude more severe and, of course, 9/11 rated an additional order, with the tsunami getting a third and fourth, although not strictly speaking comparable since it wasn't a terrorist act (that we know).
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