As a Norwegian, I have spent this last weekend in shock, in tears, in anger and in deep sorrow. 92 people are so far dead in an event that will go down in our history as the day we lost our innocence, and as a day where we get a cruel and cold reminder that we are not as safe up here as we thought we were. It has been a weekend spent in strong and conflicting emotions and where many questions have been asked. At the forefront of those question is a simple one. "Why?"
I hang my head in shame because of what one of our own has done. I hang my head in shame because of the fear he created, for the anger he has triggered, and the immense sorrow he has brought upon not only the families of those that was so violently taken away from their families, their friends and their loved ones, but also the sorrow he has brought upon the rest of us as a nation.
As was said in a movie, we will not go quietly into the night. He will not scare us into leaving our ideals, and he will not extinguish our spirit. We will prove to him that we will continue to be who and what we are, and we will prove to him that his actions were futile. We will show him that the only thing his hideous and despicable actions have managed to do is to bring us closer together, that we care about each other, and that we will continue to do so in the future.
On behalf of all of us, I want to thank you that have written in this post for your thoughts and sympathy. It will not bring back the ones that have gone away, but it might help to ease the pain a little.
|