Tragedy

Last Monday was supposed to be a good day.  It was the start of Vivian's first full week of school, and it was the start of my two week break between quarters.  Instead, it turned out to be a tragic day because cowards decided to set off a bomb in the center of downtown Bangkok during evening rush hour.  Our family was all safe at home out in the suburbs, but the place where the bomb exploded is where we went just a little over a week before to visit one of our favorite parts of the city.  It's the area of the city I'm most familiar with, and what I think of first when I think of downtown.  It's a place I have taken my children and my guests.  To see the images of what happened there was horrifying.  It made me angry, but mostly it made me sad.  Sad, obviously, for the people directly affected, but also sad for Bangkok and the Thai people whom I have mostly come to know as very kind, gentle people.  This is a country where it's considered rude to honk your horn at someone who cuts you off in traffic.  You're supposed to just ease a bit to the side and let them in.

We got several text messages and emails from the embassy and the school that Monday night.  The embassy is just a few blocks away from the site of the bombing, and several schools downtown were closed on Tuesday, so we weren't sure if ISB would be closed as well.  In the end, everything was open the next day, but ISB cancelled all after school activities.  The "cautiously carry on" attitude has been in place for the past week, and so far it seems to be working.  There have been a couple other reported bomb scares, but no damage.  It makes me angry that I have to think about this when planning an outing downtown.  I resent being at the mercy of people with no honor.  The only approach I know is to carry on regardless, but it's impossible to quiet the little voice of worry inside.  It makes me think about when I went to my job at the National Gallery of Art after September 11th.  I don't remember how long it took me to feel safe in D.C. again, but I do remember that when I went to work on September 12th it was eerie.  You could feel the communal shock and worry just by walking down the street.

This has been one of the many times I've been thankful for the community we have here.  I have friends I can talk to about everything that's happened to try and make some sense of it all, and my children have friends to play with and things to do to keep them busy and happy.  Watching my children grow and be happy reminds me to focus on the possibilities of the future year, rather than the tragedy of the previous week.