By Special Contributor Danny Para
The night of the London attack I just happened
to be at home, getting ready to shut down when the texts started coming
through. My friend Junior had sent me multiple texts to ensure I was fine so I
immediately Googled ‘London’ and the news started to come through. Instantly, I
started to hear the sirens and it all started to be surreal.
Once I turned on the news and realized that the
attacks happened at Borough Market and London Bridge, I was just kind of
shocked that it was so close. I watched the news for about two hours just
trying to decipher what happened and felt a bit relieved when I found out the
suspects were apprehended.
The Next Day
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| (Photos Courtesy of Danny Parra) |
Although still thrown off that the attacks had
happened, I always feel life must go on and you can't let it stop you from
living. I first noticed that London would feel the same when from my window, I
saw a tour bus operating and could see there were actually people on it.
I noticed from my commute to the gym that
although you can feel something was different, people were still going on and continuing
their lives. It was very evident that the people of London did not take the
attack lightly but weren't going to let it stop them from going about their day
and living their lives.
I opted to take the bus on my way back. I
wanted to get on the bus that would take me to London Bridge, but, of course,
there was a detour. So I had to walk to get anywhere even close to the attacks.
I decided to walk around near the London Bridge just to see what the vibe was
like and in a way pay my respects to those affected.
Lessons From The Chaos
With the Westminster attack in March, I was in
the office all day and felt like I was in a bubble. I wasn’t ablet to truly
grasp what had happened. So this time, I felt the need to go walk down Tooley
St. to truly take it all in.
As I walked around, the trend remained to same:
people were shopping, doing groceries and biking through the city. However, the
best part was seeing tourists going through maps trying to figure out how to maneuver
through the city with roads closed.
The 10-minute walk was a great experince because
it was just a feeling of reinforcement that, yes, something tragic happened but
London will go on. The city won't let those cowards stop anyone from enjoying
this great city. People have asked me if this would make me want to go back to
the U.S. earlier than expected.
My response is a resounding no because there's way
too much of the city that I still need to explore and I won't let terrorists
deter me from experiencing it to the fullest.
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