Last week, tragedy struck around the world.
On Friday Nov. 13, CNN reported 129 people were killed and another 352 were wounded during a series of coordinated terrorist attacks from ISIS in Paris. Just the day before, the Guardian informed readers that ISIS also claimed responsibility for twin suicide blasts in Lebanon that killed at least 43 people and injured 239.
Regardless, the western media and most people seem to be focusing only on the Paris attacks.
If you went onto Facebook this weekend or any social media, you saw that most people had put a filter on their profile pictures supporting Paris or were spreading the hash tag “pray for Paris.”
But there were no “pray for Lebanon” hash tags or filters.
In fact, I was one of those who had changed their profile picture, but after reading about all of the other tragedies that struck at the same time, I changed it back quickly. It seems that the Paris attacks and the lives lost during the attacks matter more than those lost the day before by the same exact terrorist group. Is it because it happened in Paris, the city of love, where everyone dreams of going? Or because the situation just hits a little closer to home?
The Paris attacks were the first violent act the city has had against them since World War II according to the Huffington Post.
The attacks had so much impact that it is even being called Paris’s September 11.
The first American confirmed killed from the attacks was 23-year-old, Cal State Long Beach student Nohemi Gonzalez. She was from El Monte, right down the street from us, studying abroad with her school, something that many Citrus students do every year.
The attacks that took place happened at a concert, soccer game and a restaurant. The victims were just normal people trying to have fun in one of the most beautiful cities in the world. It seems like we have become numb when it comes to hearing about attacks in the Middle East.
However, this does not mean that any of the lives lost in Lebanon mean any less.
We have been hearing about it for most of our lives so much that we think it has become normal.
Whether it is Lebanon or France, it still could have been any one of us. The suicide attacks in Lebanon happened in a mosque and near a bakery.
These people were just going about their days as well and were killed by the same terrorist group that attacked those in Paris.
Their lives matter too and deserve just as much recognition and coverage.
So yes, keep praying for Paris or sending them good thoughts, but at least do the same for Lebanon.
