The Virgina Tech tragedy made the French news, the French radio and most of the French newspapers. Some even ran the story on the front page. As soon as the story broke, no less than five of my French friends called me. ?What the hell is wrong with your country? Why don?t they stop allowing guns? What kind of security do you have over there? Is it safe for me to go on vacation there this summer?? The owner of my neighborhood market: ?Aren?t you glad you live in France?? The meat store clerk: ?Your country is crazy!?

And the list goes on. But I can totally understand them. My American compatriots and I have asked the same questions and primarily one: What kind of future are we heading for when innocent people are killed while cultivating their minds? Are we not safe anywhere?

And thank God we are not too desensitized déja by all the terrible things we?ve witnessed in the world. When you look at the victims? pictures and bios on such sites as MSN it is impossible not to feel sadness and extreme loss, even though we?ve never met these people before.

And finally the question arrives as well: Could this sort of thing happen in France? Let?s hope it won?t happen anywhere else on the planet...Sounds naiive, but where would we be without hope?

Priscilla Lalisse

This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

Comments (0)