Friday afternoon here in Arkansas, Friday evening in Paris, where it happened, a terrorist attack killed over 100 people. In coordinated attacks several restaurants and a concert venue were shot up. This time we weren't there. But it's only been 10 months since we were, since the last attack.
So far as I know everyone we know is OK. But others were not so lucky.
It's frustrating (this is a word that does not convey all the emotions I feel, but this is one of them). Frustrating that people feel they can do this. Frustrating that we can't seem to stop them. Frustrating that every time this happens, people blame entire groups of people (this time it's Muslims and refugees).
I wrote an explainer on Quora to talk about some of the structural issues that lead to youths in France choosing to kill themselves and others, and it's frustrating that we know this problem exists and noone has fixed it.
And of course it's frustrating to know that, if friends had needed me, I couldn't have been there. The world is so small, but it remains at the same time large enough to make it difficult to be where you need to be, when you need to be there.
At a memorial today, I was reminded that in 2001, Le Monde ran an editorial titled 'Nous sommes tous Américains'. It's been good to see the many people returning the favor.