Stockholm
Many have said it was just a matter of time and today it happened.....a highjacked truck driven by a madman in high speed down Drottninggatan in Stockholm.
So far four people dead and 15 injured. And a dead dog. A few years ago a man with a bomb strapped to himself detonated the bomb on the same street, Drottninggatan, only he died then. And plenty of shocked bystanders.
A few days ago, bombs on the subway in St.Petersburg. A truck drove into people in London. Before that Berlin. And Nice. Paris. Theo van Gogh. There was a nerve agent chemical attack in Syria recently. Sarin is banned, illegal and to release a gas amongst people is.....I have no words.
No matter where in the world innocent people die in senseless violent attacks it is just wrong. It happened to be Stockholm today. The city I grew up in and a place that I love, of course.
Well.....many of these attacks have been carried out by men with Arabic names, in the name of Allah and organizations like ISIS have claimed responsibility for much of this. These are just facts, nothing made up.
Oh yes, there are non Arab, non Muslim folks that go on killing sprees as well, I am very much aware of that. Just seems to be a whole lot of attacks in the name of the not so peaceful religion Islam carried out in the last two decades or so.
Of course there was stuff happening worldwide in the 70's and 80's as well but I don't have any statistic on that. I can think of Pan Am flight 103, Lockerbie.
And the Northern Ireland Conflict, IRA.
Sweden is a very politically correct place, being labeled a racist or "främlingsfientlig" is something really bad. You might get seriously shunned for that. God forbid you are outspoken about your political opinions if they have anything to do with wanting to accept less immigrants into the country.
That makes you a bad person.
I grew up knowing people either born somewhere else besides Sweden, like myself or being second generation immigrants. I have very close friends from all over. But I also have opinions and even my immigrant friends in Sweden with roots from the Middle East are not happy with the political situation and the downturn of the country. This was one of the bigger topics of discussion last time I was home. Swedes are kind and naive by nature. Other not so nice people take advantage of that. I have often been too kind and naive for my own good after leaving Sweden, not understanding that some people lie and really only are out to harm you in whatever ways they can. There has been much disbelief, many tears and sadness in my life because of that.
Anyhow. I am not sure what can be done about ISIS and similar groups. I want to say that they will go away soon, that this will all go away but that would be foolish wouldn't it? I do not understand what makes somebody feel compelled and driven to carry out acts like these and honestly believe that they are doing something good.
I don't get it. I did not grow up like that. I will never understand.
Yeah, I talked to my brother, he was stuck in Stockholm like many others because public transportation was at a standstill. I talked to my Mom and I am going to call them again tomorrow.
I really miss Sweden, it is a beautiful place with kind wonderful people living there. Too bad that this happened in Stockholm today. But no matter where innocent people die in the world it is wrong.