Since the news of the Paris attacks has broken, I realize I have been having a hard time being able to grasp an understanding of it.

It later occurred to me that it is possible we will never understand this. Instead, what we can do is find a way to feel grounded. We need to find a way to gain consciousness about what has happened in Paris.

When we sit and watch the news, it is difficult to make the situation real. But what really begins to ingrain the legitimacy into our heads are the stories and feelings that come straight from the people who were in Paris on that horrific Friday the 13th.

Let's talk about 9/11 for a moment. I was in second grade when it occurred. I was very young, but I still have vivid memories of this event. I remember being picked up from school, with no understanding of what had happened. I remember watching the plane hit the Twin Towers over and over again on the news. I remember going to a vigil Mass at church that same night. It is not the news reports that we will remember the most, it is the personal memories that we have of this that makes us remember and understand.

This will be no different for the people of France. Even children who were the same age as me during 9/11 will remember where they were and how the people who did understand what was happening were acting.

I have a very good friend from France who is currently studying in America and I messaged him that night to make sure his friends and family were safe. Just from messaging, I could tell how upset he was. The news was still raw, and it was still extremely difficult to fathom. I try to think about if 9/11 happened now instead of then, and how I would feel if I had been in a different country away from my family, watching these reports and not being able to do be with your family.

I have two other friends from France that I messaged the next day. Thankfully, everyone they know in Paris was safe. But one of my friends told me his girlfriend had almost gone out to one of the streets that night but had decided to not to, but some of his friends had to hide in a basement of a restaurant near the scenes of the attacks. Another friend told me the next morning everything was closed and calm as if "even the walls were mourning."

After speaking with these friends, I felt much more opened up to what is happening in France right now. I was not in the shoes of anyone who had experienced this tragedy, and I have never been to Paris, so it has been very difficult to imagine any of this. But knowing these wonderful and beautiful French people has grounded me into understanding how they feel at this point in time.

I can't forget to mention the role of social media in all of this. Some viral posts have been going around that have also struck me. One in particular was a testimony from Isobel Bowdery, a young woman that was in the Bataclan theater when the terrorists attacked. Her Facebook post, shown below, went viral. While the photo itself speaks a thousand words, the story she tells underneath it on her post is extremely real.

Another emotional and well-told story came from a video The New York Times posted of a man who was also at the Bataclan that night. He was wounded in the elbow during the attack and after being shot, he was pulled to safety by a stranger. "I saw firsthand what a bullet can do. It really shocked me. It wreaks exceptional violence on the body," he reported.

I will never understand why innocent people were chosen to be the victims of someone's cruel game. I am now seeing news reports saying the right thing to do is to show no fear to the perpetrators. The French are a beautiful group of people and while it will take time to recover, I believe they will rebuild a strong future.