Paris attacks: Resilience must defeat despair

Paris attacks: Resilience must defeat despair

Nowadays you would stumble upon the word 'terrorism' more often than your conscious mind can recall. Today's Paris attacks, where people were targeted, shot and bombed, at various locations, killing over 120 and leaving hundreds injured with physical and emotional injuries, is one such instance.

The chronic enactment of terrorism in the world is leading to a rather displeasing resilience than fear.

We are in a time where terror attacks are becoming more common than laughter clubs. It might not be regular occurring in a confined space but with widening phenomena of global citizenship, we all are affected by it in some way or other.

Terrorism has become a recurring news headline. Innocuous items like a backpack or a drink and even humans themselves (suicide bombers) are becoming the means of lethal assaults, making it evident that the threat of terrorism hangs over us at all times. Terrorism has become the prime agenda in every nation's national and international security docket. That defiantly makes terrorism the biggest security threat of our times.

Every individual is under the threat of it and especially on their own soil, some of these terror attacks have already taken place, though most of them are yet to be speculated. September 11, 2001, terrorist attack in the United States; July 7, 2005, terrorist attack in Britain; or November 26, 2008, terrorist attack in Mumbai; these are defiantly not one of a kind.

For the reason that, just when the world began to consider terror is a phenomenon, which prevails simply in disputed countries, Paris was struck by well-coordinated attacks on Friday night, killing more than 120 people. This proves that no nation-state is secure from terror and no individual can estimate their chances of being affected by it.

Terrorism affects people and society in several ways- economically, socially, culturally and politically. Although, the prime suffering involved in such attacks is the physiological and emotional trauma.

However, these factors only contribute to building a better social resilience among the people. Society is yet not as fragmented as it is estimated to be. In the hours of distress, people tend to be more cohesive than expected.

Such cohesive behaviour is imbibed in human nature and witnessed by people in the wake of sudden anguish. This has been evidently seen in India, for example, post the 26/11 terror attacks, not only did Mumbaikars protest against the attacks, but the entire nation came together to show their camaraderie towards the victims and their families.

This behaviour of the masses creates a social resilience in the society. For probably the first time a terror attack would create fear and anxiety in people as it would be a new concept to experience but the more often such incidents occur the most immune society becomes.

Thus, in the contemporary situation individuals and societies are losing their astonishment and interest in such devastating incidents. The more frequently terrorist acts take place the more society becomes thick-skinned, in order to defeat the fear. However, that doesn't mean the society is less considerate, rather they wish to not live in fear.

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