We Are One

I'm not one for social commentary, and that is not the purpose of this blog.  But if I didn't say something about the tragic events of the last few days, then I would be doing a disservice to all those who lost their lives at Westgate, to those who escaped with physical and emotional scars, to those who lost their parents, their children, their friends, their colleagues, their innocence.

I have gone from disbelief, to shock, to overwhelming sadness at the slaughter of innocents in the name of religion.  I have Muslim friends, of all nationalities, and they are as shell-shocked as I about the atrocities committed by these cowards.

This was too close to home.  Westgate is a place I go to often, and I could easily have been in there.  Worse, I could have been there with my child, and this thought has plagued me all weekend long.  The images I have seen have been gruesome and deeply disturbing; a couple lying in a final embrace at urban burger, a bloodied young boy carried out by his father, a man lying on the front steps as people run past to safety. 

But amidst all this are stories of hope and of great bravery. Of a nation brought together to stand united against a common enemy.  We may never forget, and our wounds may never heal, but, if nothing else, this massacre has gone to show that we ARE one.