In Solidarity With The People Of Paris

 

From The Pen Of Frank Jackman

I have on more occasions that I wish to remember have taken issue with the policies of the French government especially as they have dove-tailed with the war interests of the American government in its endless wars including today in the enflamed Middle East. I am sure that in the future I will be at loggerheads with that same government. But not today, today I stand as every serious leftist must with the people of Paris, with the people of France who have been subjected to another round of criminal actions by those damn jihadists who do not distinguish between military targets and ordinary citizens, have made the whole world subject to “collateral damage.”  Or maybe they do distinguish targets but take the coward’s way out and head for “soft targets” in their maniacal sense of what constitutes “victory” in their distorted savage minds.   

Today though I do not want to dwell on the deaths of the innocents in the “night of the long knives” just past but on what Paris means in the history of civilization, what it means in the great scheme of human progress. Why it is the most visited city in the world. Why whoever has gone there will always have that memory front and center.    

Everybody obviously knows the museums, so many it takes a couple trips to each one to even scratch the surface. That walk, that dreaded walk on Sunday, down the (or is it up) Champs Elysee with what seems like all of Paris out in its finery to celebrate the day. Is mesmerized by the “city of lights” highlighted by the dazzle of the Eiffel Tower at night. The weekend deluge of those seemingly endless green bookstalls all open to the passing traffic on Rue Saint Germaine. The homage to their God of the masterful builders of Notre Dame and the million other churches ringing their eternal bells around the city. The numberless plaques on the bridge columns to those who defended Paris from outside forces or as in the case of the Commune their own government. The painter quarters at Montmartre with its own sense of style. The traffic along the Seine, the river of life, from big barges bringing Paris products from the outside world to tour boats and private pleasure vessels. All this and more.     

But what I am thinking about most today is those ubiquitous outdoor cafes, populated seemingly in all weathers by the people-watching ordinary citizens of Paris. Yeah, that Paris is the one we all stand in solidarity today as they go about their now sorrowful tasks. Ah, Paris.