JULY 22ND
I don't know what to say... This Friday, July 22nd, my country was shocked by the tragic and horrific attacks on Oslo and Utøya that have resulted in 93 confirmed deaths so far - most of them teenagers gathered together for a summer camp.
I've spent the better part of the last days, since the first reports of the bombing in the capital, listening to the news with my family, hoping for the best but instead recieving more and more devastating news. What happened on Utøya is almost impossible for me to believe. So many, many, many people, so many children, hunted down and murdered in cold blood by this one insane man.
I'm grateful to see everyone in Norway coming together now, not in hatred and fear, but with love and compassion for each other in our sorrow. The man responsible for these crimes have been caught, and we ask for his message of hatred and Islamophobia to be ignored.
I feel like this is quite fitting:
To Youth
by Nordahl Grieg
Enemies near and by,
threatening your right!
Under a storm of blood -
You have to fight!
Might you then ask in fear,
unarmed and open:
how shall I combat them,
what is my weapon?
Here is your shelter strong,
here is your sword:
faith in mankind,
and in everyone's worth.
For all the future holds,
seek this and tend it.
Die, if you have to, but:
deepen, extend it!
Silent the bullets glide
all through the night.
Use all your strength and love,
stop deadly flight!
War is contempt for life.
Peace is creating.
Add forces to the strife:
death shall be beaten!
Love - and enrich with dreams -
greatness of old!
Challenge unknown terrain -
truth will be told.
Works not yet being built,
stars never seen -
reveal them through rescued lives,
able and keen!
Noble is everyone,
earth, rich and sweet!
Hunger and suffering,
caused by deceit.
Crush it! In life's own name
injustice shall fall.
Light, bread and love and hope,
birth right of all.
Forcing all weapons down,
warfare shall cease!
Shielding man's dignity
creating true peace.
Who by his right hand's side
carries a burden,
precious and dear to him,
can never murder.
This is our promise,
from kin to kin:
cherish our fragile Earth,
it's ours to win.
We will protect and keep
beauty and grace -
as if we held a child
in tender embrace!
(in Norwegian as a song on YT)
I've spent the better part of the last days, since the first reports of the bombing in the capital, listening to the news with my family, hoping for the best but instead recieving more and more devastating news. What happened on Utøya is almost impossible for me to believe. So many, many, many people, so many children, hunted down and murdered in cold blood by this one insane man.
I'm grateful to see everyone in Norway coming together now, not in hatred and fear, but with love and compassion for each other in our sorrow. The man responsible for these crimes have been caught, and we ask for his message of hatred and Islamophobia to be ignored.
I feel like this is quite fitting:
To Youth
by Nordahl Grieg
Enemies near and by,
threatening your right!
Under a storm of blood -
You have to fight!
Might you then ask in fear,
unarmed and open:
how shall I combat them,
what is my weapon?
Here is your shelter strong,
here is your sword:
faith in mankind,
and in everyone's worth.
For all the future holds,
seek this and tend it.
Die, if you have to, but:
deepen, extend it!
Silent the bullets glide
all through the night.
Use all your strength and love,
stop deadly flight!
War is contempt for life.
Peace is creating.
Add forces to the strife:
death shall be beaten!
Love - and enrich with dreams -
greatness of old!
Challenge unknown terrain -
truth will be told.
Works not yet being built,
stars never seen -
reveal them through rescued lives,
able and keen!
Noble is everyone,
earth, rich and sweet!
Hunger and suffering,
caused by deceit.
Crush it! In life's own name
injustice shall fall.
Light, bread and love and hope,
birth right of all.
Forcing all weapons down,
warfare shall cease!
Shielding man's dignity
creating true peace.
Who by his right hand's side
carries a burden,
precious and dear to him,
can never murder.
This is our promise,
from kin to kin:
cherish our fragile Earth,
it's ours to win.
We will protect and keep
beauty and grace -
as if we held a child
in tender embrace!
(in Norwegian as a song on YT)