There are so many words to describe what’s happened in London over the past few weeks. But so many of those seem inadequate.
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It has been a horror time for Londoners, terrorists launching themselves at innocent bystanders, the Grenfell tower fire and the latest ‘terror attack’ targeting worshippers at one of Britain’s biggest mosques.
One person was killed when a man – later identified as a 47 year old father of four – slammed his car into a crowd of Muslim faithful.
But in the face of terror we see resilience.
We’ve watched as the city picked itself up to care for the wounded and the homeless.
The sad part is undoubtedly they will be forced to do so again, and perhaps again. It would appear to be the way of the world these days.
What’s brought it home to us – on the other side of the world – is the ‘Australian stories’.
Including a Gunnedah paramedic – who was one of the first on the scene – tending to the injured at the mosque attack.
Tim Jones, 24, told us how, when he arrived on the scene, it was chaos – with people running in all directions trying to help one another, and lending support.
He also said he’s not alone – that there are other Australians working as ambulance officers in London – part of a four year recruitment drive that’s seen a number of our trained paramedics head overseas.
We tend to think of these events only happening ‘on the other side of the world’.
The Lindt cafe siege proved us wrong there, and in a way so does this.
London is a home away from home for so many young Aussies – keen to get a taste of life before heading to university, or starting out on their career path - fresh faced and perhaps naive enough to believe we’re all one big happy family just going about our business.
The truth is we can no longer live in isolation of such horrible events, because each and every day they are hitting closer to home than ever before.
Tim probably didn’t think he would see anything like this when he took up the opportunity to work overseas.
He more than likely saw it as an opportunity for adventure, a great way to kick start his work ‘experience’.
But he will certainly have to live with the aftermath and the damage it’s caused to so many innocent lives.
And so will we all.
