Liège Shooting

Last Tuesday, tragedy struck the town of Liège, Belgium when a man dropped two grenades on a bus stop at the place de Saint-Lambert before pulling out a gun to shoot the people in the surrounding area. This act was followed by the man taking his own life. Within two hours of this truly tragic event, news cameras were on the scene, and media coverage on the event flooded the televisions and radios of almost every citizen. It was a shock to all. It was strange to think that a place where I go almost every week, had suffered such an event. The rest of the week was followed by candle vigils and tributes to pay respect to the numerous deaths and wounded citizens. Perhaps the most frightening element was the young age of many of the deaths. Two young people aged 15 and 17 were coming home from exam week and never made it back to their parents. That is an unsettling truth.

In a country like Belgium, it is easy to understand how shaken the population was by this attack. With a crime rate of 10 violent deaths to every 100,000 citizens and mild illegal activities passing on an infrequent basis, an extreme case of violent crime moved the people to great fear, sorrow, a compassion. As exchange students it was strange to be witness to how it effected the atmosphere of daily activities. It was also very telling about the cultures that the students have come from the level of surprise and lasting effect that it has had.

For example, as an American, I find that I am more desensitized to the violence of the crime than say the students who come from smaller towns in Australia. The crime rate in America is much higher than that of Belgium and therefore, the thought of this crime is not one that would keep me from going back to Liège in the near future. However, that is not to say that I had no compassion and understanding of the devastation it caused many families. One of the girls here who is also from Pennsylvainia hails from the town of Pittsburgh. She said to me after the event that it was not uncommon for her to be witness to those kinds of tragedies. Her neighborhood is located near one of a less favorable reputation. In the evening she can hear the sounds of gangs and gunfire through the night. She was effected and understood the tragedy, but it had a less profound effect on her.

The day after the attack was a day that all of the students usually get together and do something. We were unsure if we should get together and party in light of the recent events. However, many of the students from Latin America seemed unaffected by the tragedy and went out anyway. I thought that this was something that seemed to be rather telling of the culture that they have grown up in. In many Latin American countries there is an enormous amount of crime. One of the young boys here on exchange is from Mexico and has just turned 17 in November of this year. He has been in numerous and separate instances of shoot outs over drug disputes and acts of violence. In one particular case he found himself in a restaurant in his town and when the gun fire began, he had to hide under the table to avoid his own death. After having a life where this is a regular occurrence, it seems to be impossible to blame him for a desensitized attitude towards violence. In a world where that is so common, what is one more shoot out?

It becomes more and more evident the more I am in Belgium the role that our cultural identity plays in the way we interact with the world around us. When we take a close look at the factors of the places where people are from, it is more clear as to why they make the decisions that they do.