mmoa_writes

I first heard of the bombing in Madrid during my Spanish Lit. My Spanish teacher - a wonderful McGonagall-esque English woman - has tears in her eyes and her voice kept on breaking. One couldn't escape the gravitas of the situation.

At home, I ended up almost having a minature debate with my father who went off into a rant about what goes around comes around: how Spain had been one of those European countries that had brutally colonised Africa (peculiar how he never mentioned S. America, where I do believe the Spanish mainly set up their colonies...). I know anyone reading this will presume my father to be a cold-hearted [Nigerian] nationalist, which he's not in truth; that's what kick-started my rather angry reaction to his remark.

I mean, the screen was filled with these images of smoke and strewn bodies and medics. There were children who looked so stunned: it was incredibly surreal, you felt as lost as they were - but, this is the world we live in. Sickening. What the hell are they going to try next? Flying planes into buildings seemed to set the standard: I shudder to think of what the terrorists (al-Qaeda, ETA, IRA...) will attempt next.

 But I'll tell you what got me annoyed the very most. Almost continually at the bottom of the screen of BBC-International were the words "No British casualties reported" in a way to imply that it was as if that is the very most important thing we should be bothered about. My heart and soul goes out to those in Spain: Not only for the victims and their families, but also for the Basque nation who will probably be given a label thanks to ETA (whether it was them or not).