The flowers and the candles are here to protect us, admits the boy at last.
By Raghavendra M
A shooting storm, explosions and mass hostage-taking intimidated the city of love, Paris, last Friday night.
The attack that killed 129 people and injured several others gripped the residents with fear. While it was a mournful situation for the elders in the city, it became further difficult for them when they tried to explain their children about what happened and how to deal with it.
Saturday morning, a reporter from France’s Le Petit Journal spoke to a father and his son, among many other parents, outside the Bataclan theatre, where the attack took place.
The reporter asked the boy if he understood what happened, and why they did it. Here is how the conversation followed:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=78&v=jb_5QlLQQH8
Boy: “Yes, because they’re really really mean. Bad guys are not very nice. And we have to be really careful because we will have to change houses.
Father: “Oh don’t worry… We don’t need to change houses. France is our home.”
Boy: “But there’s bad guys daddy…”
ather: “Yes, but there are bad guys everywhere. ”
Boy: “They have guns, they can shoot us because they’re really really mean daddy.”
Father: “It’s OK, they might have guns but we have flowers.”
Boy: “But flowers don’t do anything, they’re for, they’re for…”
Father: “Of course they do, look, everyone is putting flowers down. It’s to fight against the guns.”
Boy: “It’s to protect? And the candles too?”
Father: “It’s to remember the people who have gone.”
Boy: “The flowers and the candles are here to protect us.”
Father: “Yes.”
Reporter: “Do you feel better now?”
Boy: “Yes, I feel better.”