Willi Lopez on Facebook after the Paris Charlie Hebdo attack...
Today more than ever we must forget our differences and cherish what we all have in common: our european and western values and beautiful traditions. we keep forgetting that our culture is rich enough as it is and has added a great deal of value to all parts of the world. We should not accept foreigners but only if they are willing to become one of us, just as they expect the same from us when we go to their countries and in the long run. Let's not forget our past because tha...t is exactly what has enabled us to reach this point in our liberties. Our struggle has been one of centuries and now we are throwing it all away in favour of barbaric cultures that by no means intend to learn from us. They are indeed jealous of us in everyway: our achievements, our location, our dreams, our culture and education, the way we confront hard situations, the way we treat one another etc. We still have a lot to work out ourselves, but we are trying. We are fighters in life. We don't travel to other countries in hopes of living from the sweat of others and welfare is our last resort. We have fought amongst ourselves for millenia, but if one saw this from space he would just realize that we have unconciously been trying to be one, united a whole. Today I'm as French as I am Spanish. But I feel as Swedish and Australian and British as any of them. Because compassion is a big a feeling as patriotism. Long live France and the rest of Europe as well as our brothers and sisters around the Globe. Unity now is unquestionable.
We have eaten the same shitty pasta Mrs Montesano cooked for lunch
We were bored to death in Mrs Jennings class yet found it surprisingly fun to practice together for Hamlet
We have been excited about the same school dances, who will ask who to dance with the popular “I will always love you”
We were silly enough to fall in love yet smart enough to know there is no such thing as “always”
We were as wise as any 15 year old would be…
We secretly held hands exchanged quick kisses when no one is looking
Then like any other 15 year old would have done we moved on…
You were kind of upset, yet we got over it and find a way to be friends again…
We were more than 20 nationalities in our tiny school
When the Gulf War hit and the school was evacuated due to constant warnings to Nato- we worried together. We were studying world history at the time and I remember thinking “wow, this will be in history books for our kids to read… we are living “history”.
For the 3 years we went to school together despite our differences we all spoke the same language… Nationalities came up once in a while when there is a world championship or who has the best beaches , Religion was not on the agenda…
This summer when you were teasing us about 90s jeans, I thought if you were once friends as teens you will always share stuff other people won’t… and 20+ years, people that enter our lives, countries we live in, work etc. will not take that away…
I know you are a passionate and proud man… I notice how furious you are about what is going on at the moment… I am worried as well, maybe even more as I suppose I come from one of the barbaric cultures you mention in your passionate posts… I feel the treat of radical Islam everyday.
But I am curious to know whether you think of me at all when you call for unity against all non -European values…
Because Willi I keep thinking of you since I notice your posts…things that bring people together and tear them apart continues to amaze me.
Je ne suis pas Charlie, Willi… Je suis Ceren and Je suis très triste pour tout. Que paso?