A Sad Day

Today is a sad day. Readers know this is a cycling site. Regular readers know that this site has evolved into being almost solely about my travel by bicycle in France. Not because that is the majority of my riding, but it is the majority of the interesting part of my riding.

By chance, it is usually September when I have been in France. Every year, someone offers support, mentions the attacks on the World Trade Centers of September 11th. Every year, someone mentions the role the US played in WW 2. That was a long time ago. September 11, not so long ago.

Today is a sad day. Today, with the attack on free speech, with the massacre murders of 10 French cartoonists, artists, journalists at Charlie Hebdo in Paris, and 2 French policemen, and the critical injury of others, is a sad day.

As I see said on the streets of Europe, "Je suis Charlie." Truly, "Nous sommes tous Charlie." I know, that is in French, but each of you, my readers, certainly understand it is a statement of solidarity with those killed, and solidarity with freedom of the press. I am Charlie. We are all Charlie.

Certainly, and agreed, there are other horrific attacks, each of which takes a piece of breaking one's heart. They happen terrifyingly often. This is not a cultural, or a political site. This event touches my bicycling world directly, and we are now, after all, one very small planet.

Nous sommes tous Charlie.