This is far too close to home. Too close for comfort. This is my city. This is where I was born and raised, where I work and sleep and live. I have been in that arena so many times. I have been through that train station so many times. It is terrifying how close this is.
But whilst it could have been any of us, it wasn't. We're here, still breathing, whilst there is an eight year old child that is never going to come home, or go to school again. There are people that didn't know when they entered that arena that they'd never leave it alive. And all because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time, and that wrong place happened to be a gig. For Christ's sake, a gig. On what earth is that ever, ever going to be okay? To be justifiable, or forgivable? What God can demand that as payment, the lives of children?
The atmosphere last night and today in Manchester has been one of both fear and solidarity.452Please respect copyright.PENANAMLvUvA3VoB
Last night there were rumours of a gunman opening fire at the hospital. This was proved false, but not before hysteria had started. Some said that the train lines had been blocked by terrorists. The train lines had been blocked to stop anymore train passengers coming into Victoria station and endangering further lives; nothing to do with terrorists. Yet the rumour had already started. Others said another bomb had gone off on Deansgate. It hadn't. The controlled explosion in Cathedral gardens turned out to be a pile of clothes and nothing serious. But still, mass panic was rife during the early hours of this morning. Many couldn't sleep and simply stayed awake, fixed on the news, praying for some small ray of positivity to come through.452Please respect copyright.PENANABhti1OSPEW
452Please respect copyright.PENANAlNgle1eXZG
But whilst panic has spread like wildfire, and there are still more reports of more controlled explosions in different parts of the city along with the total evacuation of the main high street this morning, there has also been an air of refusal to back down. Because this is Manchester, and we are far from weak. This will not break us or define us. We've lived through terror attacks before, and whilst this one is all the more painful because of the number of lives lost and the nature of the attack, it is one we will overcome. Taxi drivers offered to drive people home for free, hotels allowed refuge to the stranded and people all over the city opened their doors and homes to complete strangers. The website in order to register for blood donation froze. The queue at the blood clinic extend out of the door and down the street. Food has been taken down to the hospitals for the families waiting by the bedsides of loved ones.
Whoever is behind this attack did not factor in their calculations the sheer nature of the Manc population. We can be fiercely protective when we get behind something as one coherent unit; we are resilient and tough and it will take so much more than this to make us cower in our homes. We will not, and cannot, be beaten by something as mindlessly destructive as this. We will not rise to it. Instead we will help, and heal and focus. They, whoever they are, will not win. They cannot win.
The situation of last night and today could have been so much worse. I thank god for the emergency services that were able to help and evacuate. This morning the entire high street was evacuated within minutes. Two men have already been arrested (one in connection with the attack, the other is not yet confirmed). There have been reports of yet more controlled explosions, and the police are taking every precaution. I commend the utter bravery of our emergency services that endangered their own lives in order to save those of others.
My heart goes out to each one of the 22 people that will never be coming home. For each member of their families that is doubtless experiencing a world of pain right now. And those that were injured I pray have a speedy recovery. And for all those children, many of whom will have never been to a concert before, I sincerely hope that this doesn't traumatise them for the rest of their days. Whilst a conversation needs to be had on security and where the limits and boundaries of the security measures lie (the bomb wasn't in the actual arena; is it now necessary that security checks need to be carried out on everyone in the vicinity?), that conversation can wait. For now, the focus needs to be on the children that have lost parents, the parents that have lost children, and the friends and family that will never be coming home. All because they happened to be at this one concert.
But this is one city that refuses to be cowed by terrorism. Life will go on as before, and whilst the weeks ahead will be difficult, the citizens of Manchester are strong. We are Mancunians, and Mancunians aren't beaten so easily.
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