When a terrorist attack happens in a first world country, the response is usually the same. News outlets spend their entire program looping grainy footage of the event, questionable reports are spread via social media, and many people take to social media to express their outrage and heartbreak.

I find the events that took place yesterday in Paris to be horrible and tragic, as do most of my countrymen. However, I would not say that I'm "devastated" or "heartbroken" about these events. My reaction to such news events is to learn as much as I can via internet and television, ignore social media posts that aren't from an outlet that I trust, and then to use that information along with the information I already know to try to understand the situation.

Since I'm studying international studies, I try to catch one (or three) news programs a day when my class schedule allows it. If you keep up with current events, you know that devastating events that destroy lives happen on an almost daily basis. If I fell apart every time something like this happened, I could not hope to someday enter a job where I will analyze policy, even for catastrophic events. Would you want a president or secretary of state or even a low-level policy maker who is so overcome by these events that he or she cannot think clearly? Perhaps not.

I think that we all have a role to play when something like this happens. Everyone has a responsibility to educate themselves about what has happened and why it is significant. Artists have the responsibility to express their heartbreak and contribute their creative talents to a healing process. Policy makers must remain calm in order to make the best decisions using the information that they have.

Resources

American news outlets that refrain from spreading unconfirmed reports:
NPR (radio, web)
PBS Newshour (television, web)
_____________________

Deutsche Nachrichtenagenturen:
tagesschau (Fernsehen, Web)
Deutsche Welle (Web, Radio; also in English)
Der Spiegel (Web, Zeitung; also in English; mehr Gerücht als die anderen Agenturen auf der Liste)
______________________

Image source: @jean_jullien.