It doesn’t feel like it at the moment but life has to go on as normal
SITTING down to write this column on Monday evening, I had, as I do most weeks, a list of possible ideas of what to write about.
On that list was the revamp of Bacup town centre, the different election leaflets dropping through my front door and the opening of the new McDonald’s.
By Tuesday morning, it all seemed kind of unimportant.
Not that it was any less important than previously, just that something so impossible to get your head around had happened which changes everything while at the same time nothing changes.
Terrorism is one of those things which we all know happens, but which we never expect to happen near us.
There’s probably not a single person in the Valley we call home who hasn’t visited the Manchester Arena, or knows someone who has.
On Tuesday I spent most of the day in Rawtenstall. On the surface, nothing was different.
Children played in the playgrounds, shoppers walked up and down Bank Street, buses moved in and out of the bus station.
But conversations were just about one thing. What had happened? How could it happen? And perhaps the hardest question of all: Why could someone let that happen?
At the middle of a general election which was in danger of becoming increasingly personal and bitter, Monday night’s events were a standstill reminder that whatever our day-to-day differences, there are many things which unite us: Knowing right from wrong, a sense of decency, a respect for democracy and an absolute understanding of value of life.
And it’s how we respond to what happened which determines whether those who seek to harm us ultimately ‘win’ or not.
While it feels like everything has changed, we have to show nothing has changed.
Victory for the cowards behind the Manchester attack would be us being too frightened to attend events where lots of other people gather.
There were 21,000 people at the Arena on Monday night – more than that will attend the various big events held in Rossendale during the year.
Victory for the cowards would be allowing their actions to drive a deeper wedge between sections of our society.
One of the things I love about Rossendale the most is the fact it is such a friendly place, regardless of religion, ethnicity, nationality or, as a friend once put it, football team you support.
On Facebook during Tuesday, I wasn’t shocked by the anger I saw, but worried by some of the assumptions which were being made.
Fortunately, local forums were dominated by discussion of how to help and that we have to stick together.
It’s essential it stays that way.
Allowing the hate which sits behind these attacks to be used to drive other hateful views is something we must all guard against.
Since Monday night, we’ve had plaudits for people in our area for their selfless acts in Manchester on Monday night. We’ve had appeals for support – donations of food for hospitals, going to donate blood or raising money for those families suffering horrendous losses. We’ve had plans to show unity and defiance in the face of terrorists.
This was the week when terrorism struck very close to home. The cowards can’t win. Life goes on – and it has to go on as normal.
It doesn’t feel like it at the moment, but it has to.