First off, I would like to open this by saying that I am very lucky because neither I nor anyone I know has been directly affected by any of the recent terrorist attacks that have gone on all over the world. I am in no way trying to downplay the scenarios or their level of severity, though, because none of these incidents should ever be taken lightly.
Since 2015, there have been thousands of people killed and even more injured in attacks from various terrorist groups around the world. Some have been linked to ISIS, while others are connected to other extremist groups that threaten other countries in the world.
Some of the most recognized attacks included: Paris, where 130 were killed and hundreds more injured; San Bernardino, California, where 14 were shot and killed; and Brussels, where more than 30 were killed in explosions at both an airport and a metro station. These three instances alone changed the lives of hundreds of people in a matter of minutes.
March 2016 alone has seen eight attacks other than Brussels, with over 100 lives lost. There were attacks in Mali, Istanbul, Nigeria, Pakistan, Ankara, and the Ivory Coast, all taking the lives of innocent people and scarring this month in history for all of their loved ones. In 2015, there were even more attacks than just what made headlines here in the United States. 43 people died in Lebanon the day before the attacks in Paris; even more were killed in various attacks in Egypt, Syria, Yemen, and Kenya, with each incident tolling more than 100 deaths. Nigeria saw the most deaths in 2015: an attack on January 7 by the Boko Haram in Nigeria is said to have possibly killed over 2,000 people, with another attack happening later in the year on September 20. Al Qaeda, Boko Haram, ISIS and other extremist groups have been behind these attacks and many others throughout the last 15 months.
These innocent lives that have been lost since the beginning of 2015 reveal a tremendous problem affecting many people all over the world. There will never be any way to eliminate the pain the loved ones of these people have felt, and I don’t expect for one second to pretend that I understand what it feels like. Because I don’t, and I’m extremely lucky that I don’t. But I will say that I support you. I support every single person who has been affected by these attacks in any way at all — whether they lost a loved one in these attacks, or they were there when the attack happened, or an attack happened in a place they call home.
These attacks do not give any excuse to hate all Muslims because plenty of them have been the victims of these attacks; we need to stand beside anyone who has been affected, and support them because they need it. So no matter who you are — whether you are from a European country or from the Middle East, or Christian or Muslim, or wealthy or poor — to everyone who has been hurt in any way by these attacks going on around the world, I stand by you, and I support you.
