2017-06-06 Saundersfoot
Tuesday ---- I just realized about an hour ago that I'll be home next Tuesday. I've been losing track of the days, and it seemed like so long before I'd be home.
After these terrorist attacks, all I wanted was to go home and be somewhere safe. Monica has had the news on the last few days and last night I saw a picture of one of the guys who was involved in the attack on London Bridge and was killed by the police. He looked so ordinary, 27 years old with a couple of little kids, living in a small community, where the neighbours said he was a pretty nice guy and they would never have expected him to do something like that. They must not have known he was stirring up other people to join him with Islam.
Seeing such an ordinary person being involved, it kind of brought the incident down to earth. It was a gang, just like gangs have been around since forever. Often second-generation kids with parents coming from unpopular countries have been tormented and bullied in school for being different, so they grow up to be tough and full of hate. I would say that most of all the mass killings you hear about are committed by people who have been bullied, like the ones that happen in schools. Skinheads. Makes sense that second-generation bullied kids grow up and identify with their home-country rebels? Makes them feel tough. All the same crap. Boils down to people whose testosterone runs rampant, and don't have a clue what love and compassion is all about.
So when all that happened, Monica's so used to it, she said she won't let things like that control her life or stop her from doing the things she wants to do, especially travel. After a couple of days I calmed down. I really didn't want to miss going to Paris.
These gangs seem to be targeting places where people gather for a good time, not pulling off 9-11's at major centers, like train stations. When I left London's Paddington station on May 26 to head for Wales, there were police everywhere. Same as in Italy. At every tourist attraction, there were guards armed with rifles, keeping an eye on everyone.
