I have never traveled outside of the United States except for a seven day cruise with my family to the Bahamas. We didn’t even need a passport.
I didn’t always want to travel – I didn’t feel the need – but luckily, the hopeless romantic in me started watching films set in Ireland, France, and Africa, and suddenly, traveling was all I could think about.
As many know, on the night of November 13th 2015, 120 people were killed in Paris. It was soon found to be a terrorist attack and while many lives were lost, fear was also instilled into everyone around the world. Like others, I felt the pain for those families of lost loved ones and for those living in Paris locked in their houses hoping for a signal of hope.
But fear wasn’t something that went through me.
Interviews began going out to schools all over the world talking about their study abroad programs. Even at Misericordia, students planning on going to countries such as Ireland and Italy were being asked if they still wanted to go and if the attacks on Paris changed their minds.
I remember my roommate Molly simply telling me: “No. I am going to Ireland. This changes nothing."
In a later conversation she talked about her worries about not being able to even spend the weekend in France while she was visiting Ireland. "I was planning on spending some time in Paris because it is so easy to get around there. But I don't think the school will let me now."
Clearly Molly is not afraid to head to Paris for a weekend.
So why can't she go?
If Paris is brought up in any conversation, fearful faces flash across the room. The words “I want to go to France” suddenly hold a negative connotation. “France? Paris? But it’s so dangerous!”
I couldn’t help but think of the way that we are treating Paris and relating it back to 9/11.
On September 11th, 2001, two planes crashed into the Twin Towers in New York City. Many more than 120 lives were lost and everyone, even my kindergarten self, was affected. To this day, 9/11 holds a special place in our hearts but I must ask you all one thing:
Are you scared to go to New York City?
This article is not for the fear of France, but for the fear for humanity. If we are terrified of this beautiful and historical place, how will we ever move on? We are at a time in our lives where even the citizens of Paris need some reassurance that as humans, we understand, we love, and we want to give a helping hand.
People must come back together and remember all of the love, romance, and beauty that Paris has to offer. I have never even been there and I know that it must be a world like no other.
Ernest Hemingway, a famous American novelist who wrote such books as "The Sun Also Rises," and "A Farewell to Arms," is even lending a hand in helping Paris find their roots. His novel, "A Moveable Feast" tells his own story about living in Paris as a struggling writer and while this novel was published in 1964, well before the attacks in Paris, this book once again became a bestseller.
In one point in his novel, Hemingway writes: "There is never any ending to Paris and the memory of each person who has lived in it differs from that of any other. We always returned to it no matter who we were nor how it was changed nor with what difficulties now what ease, it could be reached. It was always worth it and we received a return for whatever we brought to it."
Hemingway understands the beauty of Paris and all of the troubles that go with it.
Copies of his book are currently sold out everywhere, including Amazon, and a massive reprint is in order. These books are also being left among memorials to the victims of these attacks. Needless to say, Hemingway showed the Parisians the light once again.
If a man that has been dead for almost 100 years is able to bring these people hope in such a dark time, then why can’t we?
So I ask you to take some time to remember:
Remember the beauty, remember the romance, and if you are thinking of a vacation, head to Paris this summer.
What can we accomplish if we show fear?
Remember that we are all humans.
We are all living under the same sky.
Let us stand together.
