Following Thursday's attack in Nice that left 84 dead and hundreds more wounded, perhaps one of the most notable comments that were made about the war on terror came from France's prime minister, Manuel Valls, who stated that "times have changed" and the country "should learn to live with terrorism."
France has been in a state of emergency ever since the wake of last November's terrorist attacks in Paris; the massive number of deaths and injuries startling the European nation and leaving the rest of the world feeling uneasy.
It's no wonder the country is on high alert and rightly so; 234 people have died in a terrorism-related incident in the past 18 months in France alone, which is more than they have seen in the last 100 years. Nice was just one of the handful of attacks that occurred around the world this month. This includes the bombing in Baghdad that killed nearly 300 civilians — one of the deadliest in years, the explosions that occurred at an airport in Istanbul, claiming 41 lives and hurting over 230 more victims, and the shooting in Orlando where 49 people were murdered.
With all of this in mind, although Valls' comment did stir up major controversy and spark a social media war on the PM's allegiance to the country, it is not exactly unforeseen. Terrorism is one of the many issues that plague our world today, and the number of attacks with and without mass media coverage does beg the question of whether to somehow fight back, or learn to live around it.
While there does seem to be something criminal and simply immoral about the latter; a government asking its citizens to understand and/or accept the fact that they could every so often be killed by preventable situations, Valls' statement implies that we cannot do both.
Taking action against extremist groups or anyone else that poses a threat to society is not only ours, but every government's primary obligation, but it is also ours as humans to continue living. We'll still attend school, go to movie theaters, coffee shops and sporting events, practice religion and travel, however, all the while acknowledging the harsh realities of the world we live in today.
Living with terrorism does not mean accepting terrorism, and furthermore, we cannot be better as a society if we're not out living and experiencing life as it is presented to us day-by-day.
Unfortunately, there are bad people everywhere doing bad things everyday, but fear of what could potentially happen should never stop us from enjoying our lives now.
