The last seven days have been nothing short of tragic, and at the same time incredibly promising.
The series of unrelated, yet all unfortunate events started this past Tuesday, when it was made clear to the public that racist posts towards African Americans were made on social media from a student at the University of Missouri. The student who made the post was arrested, but the reaction to this incident did not stop there. Students at the university protested the administration's lack of response to the social media posts and demanded the president's resignation. The students would eventually get their wish, but only after days of unrest at the school.
That subsequent weekend, worldwide terror and tragedy struck as a series of incidents, both natural and by man's hand, claimed the lives of thousands globally. The most notable of which happened in Paris on Nov. 13, where a series of explosions and shootings killed 130 and injured nearly 400. The President of France was nearly in harm's way, as he was in the soccer stadium that was adjacent to where the terrorists detonated the first bomb. This was the worst attack on France in over 70 years, with World War II being the last time France was ever hit this hard. It was also the deadliest in the European Union since the Madrid train bombings in 2004. No matter how anyone looked at it, the nation did not know how to respond to this tragedy, and the only thing to do was declare a state of emergency.
This wasn't even the first attack in that past weekend, as bombings took place in Beirut the preceding Thursday as well. While the death toll wasn't near the death toll in Paris, it was still a tragedy nonetheless, filled with the same grieving and mourning of it's popular counterpart. This event had a clear motivation, as Beirut was a key city in the Syrian Civil War, though it does not excuse the actions that took place on this day.
This past Friday saw another hostage situation take form, as a terrorist raid of a hotel in Mali claimed the lives of another 20 people. It was just the latest in a series of terrorist attacks that have struck the world by storm. The victims of these attacks are not sitting down either, as France and Russia have both launched a series of airstrikes on ISIS, the perpetrators of many of these terrible events.
The United States was not free from this circle of terrorist attacks either, as a series of threats made by ISIS directed at major U.S. cities has led to heightened security nationwide. Both New York City and Atlanta were named as places where the terrorist group might have struck next.
Even this past Monday, an earthquake occurred in Mexico in the middle of the afternoon. The death toll hasn't been confirmed, but the damage that came from this earthquake is still very much affecting those who lived in these areas. It was not the first earthquake to occur in the past couple of weeks, as Japan, Greece, Venezuela, Indonesia, and the Solomon Islands were all also hit with the same misfortune.
But what is special about this isn't the violence that occurred, or the war that appears to be brewing between ISIS and the combined force of Europe and the United States, but instead it's how the nations' citizens have responded in the wake of these events.
In the situation of the University of Missouri, students at the school protested the racism, as did students at colleges and universities nationwide. Social media networks were filled with college students writing the same message: "To the students of color at Mizzou, we, students of color at (insert college here), stand with you in solidarity. To those who would threaten your sense of safety, we are watching." A significant number of college students coming together for something greater than other more comical things that have defined 2015 is something very rare, and shows just how much the nation's youth stands against all instances of racism.
Globally, people have showed their support for France with the moments of silence held at every sporting event that weekend and the outpouring of social media informing the public of the news, as well as the numerous amount of people who added a filter of the French flag to their profile pictures. Although the latter has received its fair share of criticism for not being an active way of fighting terrorism, it is never the less a sign that the U.S. is allied with those who were victimized through the events of the last two weeks.
