More and more headlines about terrorist attacks in so many more places besides Paris and I think we're all exhausted. It's so hard to keep your head up sometimes when all you see or hear is bad news. You don't know what stance to take and the whole thing is just really upsetting.
What's okay, though, is that many people have given us hope again. They've said a few words or played a few notes and we remember why we used to believe in humanity.
Not everything is okay in this world, and it probably never will be. After watching these happy moments, however, it starts to be.
1. Piano Man
Davide Martello, a German musician, attached his piano to his bike and biked all the way to the Bataclan concert hall. The Bataclan was attacked just the day before when gunmen entered the building, took hostages, and killed many. Martello pulled the piano just feet from the concert hall and played one of John Lennon's most famous and influential songs: Imagine.
2. Flower Father
An unidentified son and father were interviewed after the Paris attacks by Le Petit Journal . Throughout the whole interview the son is nervous because he thinks that his family has to leave to get away from "the bad guys with the guns." The father very eloquently explains that they don't have to leave, because there are "bad guys everywhere." He then says, "we have flowers." The son is bewildered, and you can see his little mind working. His father then explains that flowers are to remember the people and they are there with the candles to protect them. If this doesn't melt your heart, you don't have one.
3. Not Afraid
The very next night after the Paris attacks, which have been called "the most vicious attack since WWII," Paris citizens showed that they were a force to be reckoned with.
4. They Spill Blood, We Give Blood
While many were paralyzed with grief the morning following the Paris attacks, a huge line of those willing to give blood formed across the street from yet another terrorist attack location, Le Petit Cambodge. According to Mashable, a 69-year-old man named Mr. Babey reminded the media of what French solidarity truly meant in the statement, "They spill blood, we give blood.""
5. No One Forgot
Matt Lauzon, founder and CEO of Dunwello, posted this image the day of the attacks with the caption, "This was Paris after 9/11. In tough times we must stand together." More than 40,000 Twitter users re-tweeted it in reminiscence of when we had the support of France during one of our nation's most terrifying terrorist attacks.
6. Pray for Paris
In multiple countries and states all over the world, people took time to pray or wish for peace for Paris.
Christ The Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Omni Hotel, Dallas, Texas
Convention Center, Dublin, Ireland
City Hall, San Francisco, California
And of course, One World Trade in New York.
Generosity and kindness are the two components keeping the world going. Sometimes we must remind ourselves to get out of the negative and look for the positive.
