One can find thousands of quotes about Paris uttered by famous people from the likes of Hemingway and Oscar Wilde to Carrie from Sex and the City. One of my favorite quotes has always been an anonymous sentence that said it all: ‘A bad day in Paris is still better than a good day anywhere else.‘ But seven days ago Paris experienced a day so bad that, to quote a friend, ‘our beloved city has been changed forever.’
However, I refuse to allow the senseless, despicable carnage that has dimmed the City of Lights to overshadow my Paris, the city of my birth, a city pulsating with art, love, sensory delights and a history marked by the pursuit of freedom and equality. The images below are mundane and similar to hundreds of thousands shared on Instagram or Facebook every day, but they are mine – visual snapshots that I cling to as I pray for better days. I urge you all to hold on to your personal memories of Paris so that we can collectively turn the lights back on again.
FOOTNOTE: The widely subscribed e-journal A Woman’s Paris has published excerpts from my presentation given earlier this year about Art’s role in the growing divide between cultures and religions.
Art and Beyond 