On Tuesday, October 31st, this country experienced yet another tragedy and terrible act of terrorism.
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Eight people were killed and almost a dozen were injured after being ran down by a 29-year-old man in a rented Home Depot truck on a bicycle path near the World Trade Center in Manhattan. The man, identified as Sayfullo Habibullaevic Saipov, was said to have been yelling “Allahu Akbar,” according to a few law enforcement sources. After hopping a curb and speeding down the busy path, Saipov crashed the truck into a school bus then exited the truck with a pellet and paintball gun to make it appear as if he was armed. He was then shot by a police officer.
Eugene Duffy, one of the witnesses of the accident, had just left work when he heard a scream. Though he’d said he thought it was just a Halloween prank, he said the scream was “bloodcurdling.”
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“I look down and I see a white pickup truck a couple of more blocks down the bike path. Automatically, I knew something was wrong,” said Duffy, “Then, as I go down more toward where the girl is screaming, I see two gentlemen laying there and they have tire tracks marked across their bodies. You could tell they both weren’t here.”
Reading this quote and hearing Duffy’s experience made me sick to my stomach. Not that the whole incident didn’t, but reading that he’d thought it was just a Halloween prank and instead stumbling upon the aftermath of a terrorist act is just disheartening.
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The words of New York’s Mayor, Bill de Blasio, say it all. “This was an act of terror, and a particularly cowardly act of terror,” said de Blasio, “aimed at innocent civilians, aimed at people going about their lives who had no idea what was about to hit them.”
It is often so depressing to live in this world, one where these incidents like this happen on a daily basis. Often times, they are even worse. More deaths, more injuries, more innocent lives affected. I think everyone feels the same anger and hopelessness I do, which is even more depressing. Why is this the world we live in? How much worse can it get?
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I remember the day this all happened. I heard people in class talk about how “more people died today,” then hearing the shock-less responses of, “Oh, what happened this time?” This is what upsets me the most: we expect it now. What happened THIS TIME, as if we were waiting for it to happen, but were just a little fuzzy on the details. I guess I don’t blame people for almost becoming desensitized and less surprised to these continuous accidents, because there’s only so many times you can have your heart broken before you become numb.
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However, someone very special to me taught me the importance of hope and the power that it can have. Right now, in this time and in this world, that’s all I can do: hope. Hope that one day, I can wake up without seeing another horrible disaster that claimed multiple innocent lives in all the headlines. Hope that the kids of this world can grow up and live in a world not so consumed with hate. Hope for change, happiness, and peace. That’s all any of us can do for now; have hope that one day things will be different.
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