Many things have been said about the recent events in Paris. I hadn’t intended to write anything about them as I felt there was not much to add to the outcry and defiance over the atrocities that took place. What has compelled me to do so, however, is a riposte to a type of comment I have seen a few times now. It goes along the lines of: “terrible things continuously happen in other places and they don’t receive the same level of indignation and coverage.”

Talking about innocent people losing their lives is a delicate subject. Writing this blog, I am making sure I choose my words very carefully. Any humane person gets impassioned on the subject.

So what makes Paris different to, say, Beirut? As a place of tragic and unnecessary loss of life: nothing. The difference between the lives lost: none. As a place unworthy of destruction: no place in our world should accept bloodshed and devastation.

What I mourn isn’t something in place of dreadful events elsewhere, but something additional. With its history and culture, Paris represents to humanity its ideals. It is the symbol of how to live by them and how to fight for them. It is progression. It is kinship. It is the living animal of those three oft-quoted words: Liberté, égalité, fraternité.

By attacking the people of Paris they have attacked the spirit of Paris. By attacking the spirit of Paris they have attacked the spirit of humanity. Targeting anywhere would have targeted all of us. Targeting Paris takes aim at a particular part of us. Paris is the heart of the world.

While we sit beside the Seine
Beneath a moon to which stars clamour
Strays mingle and exist
In a silvery pallor.

This month's favourites:
   Apparat, Walls
   Virginia Woolf, The Waves
   Les Misérables (2012)