A lesson for us all..

I’m often known to speak before I think. A couple of highlights (that I can remember) have included: “I wonder if tree’s go to school.” And “do dogs that live in France bark in French?” Anyway these were quite light hearted and non-offensive, unlike some of the things I saw flying around on social networks yesterday.

Yesterday was Wednesday May 22^nd, for me it was an average day: I worked and then followed that by having a quiet night in. It was all in all very non-eventful, unlike those who were in Woolwich. Yesterday was also the day a British soldier was horrifically murdered in broad daylight, in front of many members of public on a street in South East London.

I first heard about this heinous act via twitter whilst on my lunch break. It was all quite vague at that time (around 3.30pm) and many details contradicted one another. However what was clear was that someone had been viciously attacked and subsequently killed, in front of people on a popular street, in the middle of the afternoon. I was horrified. My work colleague who I was with however didn’t seem so fazed. In response to my shock she simply said “you’re not in Bournemouth anymore Emma!” She then went on to tell me that two of her friends had been stabbed and killed whilst she was still at school. The only stabbing that I knew of at my old school was performed by myself, on myself, with a pencil just after sharpening it, which was a far cry from the stories I was hearing about.

Having left work a few hours later the details of the act were becoming clearer and it was all anyone seemed to be talking about (apart from some delightfully self-centered Bournemouth promoters who I still – I’m not sure why – have on Facebook blabbering on about the upcoming 7’s this weekend. Zzzz!) The majority of people were talking of their absolute horror at the story, others were discussing what they would have done, I came across one boy who’s mum had actually been one of the incredibly brave women who went up to the attackers and spoke to them, trying to diffuse the situation whilst waiting for the police to arrive, and then there were a small minority who were speaking/typing before thinking (or at least that’s what I hope they were doing – I wouldn’t like to think that anyone with half a brain would actually think it was acceptable to be saying some of the things I was reading.) It’s a shame that a small minority can have such an impact and cause such distress, whether it is through words or actions.

There were people blaming and stereotyping the Islamic religion, saying that Muslims should be deported because they shared the same religion as the attackers. Others were blaming it on the attackers race and where they were from. It was disgusting and heartbreaking to read such ignorance. There is sadly going to be bad in every religion, but there is also a whole lot of good. There is inevitably going to be bad in every race, but there is also undoubtedly a lot of good. A religion, beliefs or race do not define a person, their actions do. The actions shown yesterday by those two men were indescribably evil, however this does not mean that every Muslim is evil. Having been bought up for 22 years in a predominately white area moving to East London was somewhat of a culture change, but I’d like to think that I’ve embraced it. I’m friends with people from all different backgrounds, races, religions and I’m intrigued to hear and learn about them. They also in return enjoy hearing about my stereotypical “2.4” up bringing, in a nice house with a big garden and a dog! If everyone thought the same way, looked the same way and acted the same way life would be boring. Diversity makes it interesting, and this should be a fact celebrated.

Sometimes I look on social media as a blessing. I mean I often wonder how I ever found out anything before and I absolutely love the fact that I can keep up-to-date on Victoria Beckham’s day-to-day life (she went jogging the other day in personalized trainers!) However on days like yesterday social media can be somewhat of a curse. It spreads a vast array of incorrect facts and comments like wildfire. It also gives a massive platform to those who act ignorantly and naïvely whilst coming across as being uninformed to speak their mind: this was last night proven to be quite a scary read. Don’t get me wrong I’m all for the right of freedom of speech and I’m all up for a clash of opinions (of course I am, hello I write a blog!) but sometimes it wouldn’t hurt for us all (myself included) to think before we speak!

And with that I’m going to leave you with a quote I came across last night: “We must learn to live together as brothers, or perish together as fools.” Martin Luther King, Jr. 

And another thought provoking quote from my friend Ema: “Why do we kill people, who kill people, to show people, that killing people is wrong?”

Goodnight. Stay safe and R.I.P Lee Rigby.