The horrific terrorist attacks in Paris occurred just a few months before I was officially selected to study abroad in London, and in the wake of such an unforeseen attack, several people asked me if I would reconsider my plans to spend the first half of 2016 in Europe.
I was honestly surprised at the question.
My first day of kindergarten in New York City was September 11th, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center. My family continued living in the city for another year after that, and when we moved, it wasn't to escape any terrorism-related fear, it was to be closer to family while my brothers and I were still young.
Back to present-day: the world is still attempting to deal with the reality of unpredictable terrorist attacks far outside war zones, I'm still studying in London and traveling all over Europe. A few weeks ago the bombing in Brussels again prompted questions about my travel plans. With our program's spring-break coming up, students were calling their parents to confirm that they should still travel, and some changed routes entirely. Questions about the safety of airports, train stations, the Tube, all things that were accepted parts of life in the city, were now asked for fear of potential attacks.
I couldn't help but feel that such questions were pointless.
Of course safety measures must be taken, security of all sorts must be tightened, travelers should remain aware of their surroundings and feel free to report suspicious activity -- but wondering about whether traveling will kill you is like asking if it's safe to walk outside, and the simple answer is no.
It isn't safe to go outside for fear that something might drop out of the sky and kill you, much like it isn't safe to get in a car and drive through traffic on the interstate, but thousands of people make those risks every day. Those kinds of risks are the calculated ones we take in living life, and with terrorism on the rise, it's just another addition to the list of unfortunate fears we face.
I read an article -- by a fellow student and Odyssey writer, no less -- that explained why US students should no longer be allowed to study abroad in Europe while terrorist groups continue to plan attacks across the continent. While of course she is entitled to her opinion, I wanted to ask her if she felt safe in the US still, knowing that terrorist attacks have taken place there as well.
I wanted to ask her how she thought holing up in our houses would really improve our situation. How keeping ourselves "safe" by curtailing our lives and future plans would benefit us. How fear of the unknown could be conquered by living in fear.
And besides that, I wanted to ask her how she would respond if she were one of the thousands of refugees without sanctuary, still carrying on with their lives as best they can while living in a very real, very violent war zone. If she couldn't just "go home" to safety, would she just give up?
My point isn't that we should all pretend we're invincible, or that we should act recklessly, or think that this kind of violence and terror won't happen to us. I know there is real danger in the world, and that the concept of "safety" nowadays is a very loose and relative idea. Instead, my point is that we have to accept the risks of life, and keep on living, no matter what things may come to.
