Terror
I only needed to listen to the radio for a minute this morning to figure out what had happened, then turned it off again, not wanting to field questions from D about what had happened and why. (I won’t be able to shelter him from the world’s horrors for much longer, but I’m going to do it while I can.) I listened some more on a portable radio on my way to work, turning it off only when my train descended underground and the dulcet BBC announcers turned into static. The metro was less full than usual, and I can’t help but thinking that a bunch of people had heard the news and decided not to risk public transit this morning.
I know, I know. More people die every day of routine traffic accidents, of AIDS, of malaria, of hunger and of heart disease. But those don’t leave millions of people frantically trying to get through to their loved ones by phone, cell phone, email or IM, looking for reassurance that they’re ok. Those don’t leave millions of people saying "I was just there last Tuesday" or contemplating whether the shoes they wear for commuting are suitable for climbing through darkened tunnels.
My thoughts and prayers tonight are with everyone affected by the bombings, whether they are keeping vigil in a burn ward, or sitting in their office and crying as they read the headlines, or checking their baby’s breathing one more time, or waking up from a dream of planes crashing on a beautiful September morning.
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The Post has an article about camera phone pictures of the attacks, with a few selected images. I also like the unedited selection offered by the 7/7 Community on Flickr.
