MONDAY MUSINGS ON A HARD THANKSGIVING WEEKEND: Good morning Social Gals and Gents. Although this is a party place and luxury lifestyle magazine where our regular focus is the fun, the fab, the philanthropy and the glorious Montrealers and Canadians who bring it all to life, we do not exist in a vacuum and therefore I have a few thoughts to share on this devastating weekend:
First off, our hearts go out to all those suffering such incalculable, pointless loss and anguish on a weekend that should have been about love and celebration. Instead, families are ripped apart, permanently marked with the kind of excruciating pain that only brutal terrorist behaviour can impart.
To see images of young innocent women dragged bloodily through streets, families lose siblings before their very eyes, and grandmothers shot dead as their children and grandchildren are left to grapple with the impossible aftermath of such human-on-human cruelty, is to wonder about the beauty and authenticity of a phrase embraced and popularized years back: “It’s harder to hate up close.”
Indeed, as this weekend’s nightmare continues to unfold against the backdrop of countless other human-on-human atrocities across the world (in countries including Ukraine, Armenia and many others), it becomes increasingly challenging to see any vestiges of human in the perpetrators of such violence, not to mention how utterly disassociated they’ve become from the simple reality that what binds us together is so much more powerful than what sets us apart.
While thankful for the blessings in my life, including the freedom to share these views today, my thoughts and prayers remain with the hundreds of innocent people who were simply living their lives this past weekend, only to have indelible horror dropped at their doorsteps.
As for a Thanksgiving wish, may we return to the human in humanity, may the senseless terrorism end, and may peace come to the people of Israel and Palestine, so that they might finally live side by side as the good neighboring nations and friends that would be a blessing to both.
Happy Thanksgiving, all. Much love to you and loved ones. Hug them all a little tighter.