As we sat pool-side or office-chair bound, just a week after our nation's birthday, our friends of France partook in their own celebrations. However their national holiday did not end with joy or pride, but bore witness to yet another tragedy. The attack on Nice, France just after the celebrations of Bastille Day left the world quite and heartbroken. A student of Sewanee and a fellow Creator for Odyssey, unable to publish, now gives us her first hand account from the northern beaches of France, just a short drive from the attack.
"Blue, White and Red flags waving in the wind, rumbles of crowds thinking about the day and night ahead, grocery stores out of charcoal: A national party is about to take place. It’s a day of celebration, good food, good wine, and a rare sense of complete unity is in the air. Quiberon, France, July 14, 2016, 11:00PM. A single American stands in the midst of a babbling excited crowd, crammed on the beach in this rarely visited, picturesque peninsula. Fireworks fill the sky and the rumble of French ceases, replaced by the sound of the rolling ocean, and the distant bang of fireworks being lit. The atmosphere is happy, enthusiastic and proud.
11:00PM. A rush of people, a pulsating crowd, moves away from the beach onto the boulevard to make their way home. In another town in France, the same thing is taking place. A massive crowd leaves the beach, but their smiles will soon turn to looks of terror, tears or their smiles may cease to exist completely. In Nice, a semi plows through the crowd, killing many and injuring others, and changing what many in France consider a day of celebration.
11:30PM. The smiles around me turn to frowns. Confusion, anger, but most of all fear, replace the cheer. This fear has been seen in France too much. People have begun to shut down, become closed, worried, and judgmental. They are quicker to judge people faster than before, and generally less trusting. As an American with dual French citizenship who has spent summer after summer in France, the change is apparent and saddening. This change makes sense of course. As saddening as it is, it makes sense. There have been too many Metro stabbings, the Paris attacks and now the Nice tragedy. This fear creates a cycle: People are fearful, so they judge; judging creates prejudice, which creates exclusions, and when people are excluded from society, it creates hate. This is the same hate that is behind the attacks.
Sitting with my French friends as we silently finish our drinks, our group’s normal laughing banter has diminished. I think about how to stop the cycle. Is there a way to change the fear? Is there a way to keep more attacks from happening? Is there a way to bring those who feel pushed away by French society back in? I don’t have the answer, but I think there should be a discussion, rather then silence over drinks. I think that the subjects of racism, and differences in religion should be taught, should be discussed, so that the cycle of hatred ends.
The Untied States and France are different in many aspects, but one thing we have in common is that our need to learn, as a culture, how rid ourselves of fear and prejudice to end a cycle. In the United States, we need to have discussions where opposite sides don’t hate each other, so that we can come to a consensus, And in France, there needs to be a discussion that isn't so limited. A discussion where people can discuss their fears, so that one’s fears can be changed by those who are feared. Attacks create divides in society, of course, but I believe that these cracks and wrinkles can be ironed out with discussions that are inclusive, inhibited, and have a goal of creating love and understanding, a bridge across the ocean of fear that divides our societies. "
