I'm a normal 20-something who gets most of her news from Facebook, as I mentioned in my last article, sad as that is.

So when I was scrolling through posts today while sitting in my friend's car, I ran across a blurb about a terrorist attack that had happened today in the city of Nice, France. At the time I found out the death toll was at 73 and 100 were wounded. The attack happened on a significant day for the French: Bastille Day which commemorates the storming of the Bastille prison in 1789 which is often cited as the opening of a long period of revolution in France.

The news of this attack hit me deeply because of multiple things.

First, my family has French heritage through my mom's side and we also have friends living in France (although far from where the attack happened) and I myself had spent some time in country back in 2008 and fell in love with the country and the lifestyle of the people who live there. To some, that might not sound like a big deal in the grand scheme of things given what happened and considering that I wasn't actually there but to me it breaks my heart.

I'm not just heartbroken for France. Rather I'm heartbroken for this whole world and the generation that is seemingly masking a regressing society under a facade of tolerance and acceptance. It seems to me that we are still struggling to deal with issues we've dealt with in the past off and on but, with this disease of violence the world seems to be infected with as well as the instant spread of news we have in the digital age, things seem worse than ever.

On social media, after attacks like this people call to rally others to stop this. In theory that's great but the thing that is lacking in these call-to-arms is actual action and getting things done to actually prevent the issue. People today think sharing a picture of something and using a hashtag will count as them 'doing something' about the issue and while it's a great way to bring attention to something it doesn't really serve another purpose than that does it?

I was fortunate enough to be raised in a household that welcomed all sorts of people over. I have family friends from all over the world, who are different races and religions, who have had experiences I never did which is awesome because as a child my parents were exposing me to all sorts of people and teaching me that I should love them no matter how different they were. That's what I think is lacking in the world: when we see a spark of difference in someone modern society has programmed us to hate and fear that rather than embrace and love the person for who they are.

I don't believe that a single person can change the world; I'm not an idealist in that sense but I do believe that one person can start something or lead others to help incite change. If we want this hate to stop it needs to be a collective effort.

Vive la France. Long live liberty, equality and fraternity. Let's not be the generation to let these concepts die.