I have been so upset about this since I heard the news yesterday. My prayers go out to the families of these innocent victims who were on their way to enjoy a holiday. It's bad enough to have a plane crash, but to be struck by a missile is unthinkable and pointless. To think that my precious granddaughter just flew into Amsterdam last week.
Beautiful tribute Ferry. Will continue praying for the victims and all their relatives who must be in terrible shock and grief. please tell me it wasn't shot down by a missile.
It is truly sad to see how one group of people can callously take down buildings or in this case a plane full of people and for what possible reason? How much hatred must fill their hearts?
Very dramatic! Such a waste of innocent beings. Why do such unnecessary tragedies have to happen in a civilised society! Our prayers are with the families of the lost ones.
Some could:
I don’t know you, and yet you’re in my thoughts….
Posted on July 18, 2014
1
Like so many, I am mourning the senseless death of the 298 passengers and crew of flight MH17. 192 of the victims were Dutch, and perhaps that’s why it hits me even harder – because I know people who knew them. I came across this moving blog post by Alexandra van Stempvoort today, and got her permission to translate it into English. This is the original post in Dutch. The translation is below.
I don’t know you, and yet you’re in my thoughts…
Yesterday you were still here. You were a girlfriend, grandpa, mom, classmate, neighbor, colleague, the guy at the checkout, the cute couple down the street. Yesterday your loved ones waved goodbye to you at the airport. You were a vacationer on your way to sun, sea, and sand, an exchange student on your way to your family, a professor on your way to a conference.
Today you are a victim. A victim of a war that had nothing to do with you. A victim of violence as senseless as trying to empty the ocean with a thimble.
I don’t know you, and yet you are continually in my thoughts. Thoughts of vacation feel selfish when I think of the sorrow of the people who said goodbye to you yesterday. The people who hoped you would come back safe. Who still hope they will wake up from this nightmare.
I keep thinking of you. How you got on the plane yesterday morning, filled with excitement and on your way to a tropical destination. The image of a Lonely Planet guide among the wreckage is just one sign of the plans you had: to see the world, to discover a beautiful country. I close my eyes, and accompany you in my thoughts. Past passport control, luggage check in, towards the gate, and looking for your seat on the plane. I don’t have the courage to go further. I can’t handle the idea of your thoughts when the plane that was supposed to transport safely suddenly fell from the sky. I hope you weren’t aware of it, but I fear the worst.
I don’t know you. For me, too, you are a nameless victim of senseless violence. Yet my heart feels heavy. It feels heavy because I know I can’t possibly imagine what it would be like if you were my lover, my mom, my grandpa, my girlfriend, or my colleague. I don’t know you, yet you are constantly in my thoughts. You, your loved ones, and all those who mourn you.
Rest in peace, dear stranger. My heart and thoughts are with those who now have to miss you, and those who can in some way provide comfort, because you could have been my neighbor.
(written by Alexandra van Stempvoort, translated by me)
An expression of words that fill the void human kind feels when they hear of a tragedy such as this. You live in a small country, but the world embraces you and feels the pain... We know it could have been any of us. And I feel your grief when you say it hits so close to your family of friends...again, I'm so sorry...
I too am finding it hard to come to terms with what happened. I've taken a lot of flights, and the thought that one of them could end because someone deliberately shot at it is just alien. These were normal people doing normal things - and suddenly their world ended and the worlds of their families and friends were torn apart. Someone at my workplace knew one of the people killed too, and the HIV research community has lost 6 top people who were flying to Melbourne for a conference - people who were trying to make the world a better place for everyone.
Thank you for sharing Alexandra's words - they express what so many of us can't find the words to say right now.
@pyrrhula very moving words. Thanks for sharing Alexandra's post with us. Also I didn't realize so many of the victims were Dutch. I'm so, so sorry. Aside from being a horrible and senseless tragedy, what a stark reminder not to take even our next breath for granted.
@pyrrhula Thank you for sharing this poignant memory. I wrote something on the same lines after 9/11. My emotions get really stirred up after such horrible tragedies. I can only hope that the victim's guardian angels were there to guide them up to heaven sparing them pain. I grieve so much for the families.
Pyrrhula, thank you so much for the translation. What a wonderful thing to write. I too, like everyone else can't believe that this atrocity has happened. I am so upset too even though I didn't know those people who died. What a waste of innocent lives. Your image of the cross is beautiful and appropriate.
And we still don't know what happened to the other Malaysian flight, never found. Thanks for sharing your moving tribute. Prayers to those lost on both flights.
July 31st, 2014
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Human behaving at the worse.
@cimes1 for that my last line
@bruni It seem to be yes.
http://condolences.eu/register/Victims-of-flight-KL4103-MH017-to-Kuala-Lumpur-6579.html
I don’t know you, and yet you’re in my thoughts….
Posted on July 18, 2014
1
Like so many, I am mourning the senseless death of the 298 passengers and crew of flight MH17. 192 of the victims were Dutch, and perhaps that’s why it hits me even harder – because I know people who knew them. I came across this moving blog post by Alexandra van Stempvoort today, and got her permission to translate it into English. This is the original post in Dutch. The translation is below.
I don’t know you, and yet you’re in my thoughts…
Yesterday you were still here. You were a girlfriend, grandpa, mom, classmate, neighbor, colleague, the guy at the checkout, the cute couple down the street. Yesterday your loved ones waved goodbye to you at the airport. You were a vacationer on your way to sun, sea, and sand, an exchange student on your way to your family, a professor on your way to a conference.
Today you are a victim. A victim of a war that had nothing to do with you. A victim of violence as senseless as trying to empty the ocean with a thimble.
I don’t know you, and yet you are continually in my thoughts. Thoughts of vacation feel selfish when I think of the sorrow of the people who said goodbye to you yesterday. The people who hoped you would come back safe. Who still hope they will wake up from this nightmare.
I keep thinking of you. How you got on the plane yesterday morning, filled with excitement and on your way to a tropical destination. The image of a Lonely Planet guide among the wreckage is just one sign of the plans you had: to see the world, to discover a beautiful country. I close my eyes, and accompany you in my thoughts. Past passport control, luggage check in, towards the gate, and looking for your seat on the plane. I don’t have the courage to go further. I can’t handle the idea of your thoughts when the plane that was supposed to transport safely suddenly fell from the sky. I hope you weren’t aware of it, but I fear the worst.
I don’t know you. For me, too, you are a nameless victim of senseless violence. Yet my heart feels heavy. It feels heavy because I know I can’t possibly imagine what it would be like if you were my lover, my mom, my grandpa, my girlfriend, or my colleague. I don’t know you, yet you are constantly in my thoughts. You, your loved ones, and all those who mourn you.
Rest in peace, dear stranger. My heart and thoughts are with those who now have to miss you, and those who can in some way provide comfort, because you could have been my neighbor.
(written by Alexandra van Stempvoort, translated by me)
Thank you for sharing Alexandra's words - they express what so many of us can't find the words to say right now.
Very true but I won`t wait that long.