7/7: three years on
NS July 7th, 2008
It has been three years since a series of attacks carried out by suicide bombers on the London Underground and one city bus took 52 lives. As I’m sure most Londoners do, I remember that day very vividly. Not only mundane things like what I was wearing or who I talked to about it or where I was, but the emotions — the fear, loss, confusion, anger, heartache, disgust,worry, relief, loneliness and, ultimately, camaraderie. I wrote last year about my experience on that day so I won’t go into the details again but I still surprise myself with how strongly I react when I think about it. My throat still tightens, tears still prick my eyes and sometimes I have to turn the channel or stop reading about it when it’s mentioned. That is my convenience, my privilege, as someone whose entire life wasn’t changed by the bombs. I didn’t lose anyone I loved and I wasn’t permanently maimed. I was not in those dark tunnels nor was I an eyewitness who still dreams of severed limbs flying. I don’t claim to put my experience on par with that, by any means. But still, it affects me. It did change me as a person a little that day and I will forever mourn those who lost their lives and the countless lives still being lost to this bloody “war on terrorism.”
So instead of more words, I give you pictures. Thousands of pictures taken by Londoners, on that day and in the years since, and posted on a community pool in Flickr. They say more than I ever could.
