Scary times
Given how many Christmas markets I've visited in the past two weeks, I admit to being slightly frightened by the attack in Strasbourg. I have received numerous alerts from the US embassy since I've been here, most of them in the last two weeks.
My attitude about possible terrorist attacks while I travel is cavalier. I found Eric after I turned forty, and I was told I had a greater chance of being killed in a terrorist attack than of meeting a life partner! Seriously, though, I am careful in busy places, but life is full or risks. If its not one thing, it's another.
Today I was in The Hague, a few blocks from numerous embassies and the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice.
I was facing (what else?) a museum. Suddenly, I heard shooting in front of me and to the right. I also saw smoke. I noticed a man with a gun and two boys briskly walking away from him. WALKING. It took a moment for that to sink in. Obviously, it was not a real firearm, but a BB gun or a cap pistol. I wasn't close enough to see. This man had a sick sense of humor. He kept shooting at children as a school group went by on the way to the museum. The teachers were nervous as well; they stopped traffic by creating a barrier with their bikes and quickly ushered the kids across the street even though they didn't have the light.
At first, I wondered why no one called the police, but then I thought: what would they arrest him for? Shooting a toy gun? Not that our former neighbors in Canada didn't try it when a guest was practicing with a BB gun, which I might add, was aimed safely toward the bluff and the lake.
We live in a strange time. The fences behind the Peace Palace are topped with barbed wire and large lights (shown here is one in front). A woman is terrified by a toy gun. And a man thinks it's amusing to terrify children by pretending to attack them with a weapon. We have to take this seriously because genuine attacks occur all the time.
We need more than a Peace Palace. This one was erected shortly before World War I, and it clearly didn't do the job.
My attitude about possible terrorist attacks while I travel is cavalier. I found Eric after I turned forty, and I was told I had a greater chance of being killed in a terrorist attack than of meeting a life partner! Seriously, though, I am careful in busy places, but life is full or risks. If its not one thing, it's another.
Today I was in The Hague, a few blocks from numerous embassies and the Peace Palace, home of the International Court of Justice.
I was facing (what else?) a museum. Suddenly, I heard shooting in front of me and to the right. I also saw smoke. I noticed a man with a gun and two boys briskly walking away from him. WALKING. It took a moment for that to sink in. Obviously, it was not a real firearm, but a BB gun or a cap pistol. I wasn't close enough to see. This man had a sick sense of humor. He kept shooting at children as a school group went by on the way to the museum. The teachers were nervous as well; they stopped traffic by creating a barrier with their bikes and quickly ushered the kids across the street even though they didn't have the light.
At first, I wondered why no one called the police, but then I thought: what would they arrest him for? Shooting a toy gun? Not that our former neighbors in Canada didn't try it when a guest was practicing with a BB gun, which I might add, was aimed safely toward the bluff and the lake.
We live in a strange time. The fences behind the Peace Palace are topped with barbed wire and large lights (shown here is one in front). A woman is terrified by a toy gun. And a man thinks it's amusing to terrify children by pretending to attack them with a weapon. We have to take this seriously because genuine attacks occur all the time.
We need more than a Peace Palace. This one was erected shortly before World War I, and it clearly didn't do the job.
I think the police should have been called: disturbing the peace. Even if the man couldn't be arrested, his act is a sick one, and he should be frightened (at the very least).
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