Its hard to believe that its been almost 15 years since I watched a video of a second plane fly into the World Trade Center. I remember panic thinking about my family in NYC - was anyone in the city that morning?
A few short years later brought the British bus attacks and another moment as I realized that the family of a close friend was commuting through London that day.
Tonight the target was the city of lights and Camus and Curie and Poincare. A city-wide series of shootings & bombings were launched in Paris that bear a troubling resemblance to the similar series of murders in Mumbai. Once again the targets are ordinary people who play no role in global politics. Concert goers. Soccer fans.
I hope it is still possible to stop this type of violence. I hope it does not spark further violence or serve as an excuse to turn Paris into a DMZ. I hope that this tragedy brings out the absolute best of the French and those of us who share her values.
No matter what happens, we can rely on the fact that Paris will survive tonight's murders. Paris survived Hitler. Paris survived Napoleon and Louis and Robespierre.
Paris will survive this.
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