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| Photo courtesy Mackenzie Schonback |
A week has past since the tragedy in Paris claimed the lives of 130 people. Most had set out on the town for a night of food, drink, and music. In a stadium close to the attacks, thousands of fans gathered in celebration of Europe’s most beloved sport, a soccer match between France and Germany.
As events unfolded that evening, the world was reminded that in a course of minutes everything can change.
Mackenzie Schonback is a Philomath High School graduate (maiden name Daggett), and was 1999’s Frolic and Rodeo Queen. She shares deep roots with both the Northwest and France. She has been living abroad for 15 years, and resides south of Paris in a village called La Guade, just outside of Nice.
She has spent much time in Paris over the last decade, and the events of 11/13 have shaken her, as they have so many others.
“I have never ever experienced this physical fear before—not after 9/11 or 7/7 in Paris last January. Those events were awful and tragic and devastating, but it didn't make me fear for my personal safety. This time was different,” she said.
She was in London that day. She had just returned to her hotel and turned on the television. It was then that the terror felt by so many Americans a decade ago came to the forefront of her mind as real-time footage of raw fear plagued Paris on the screen.
“We caught it just as the attacks started and were glued to the television until the wee hours of the morning. It was awful. It brought back so many memories of watching the attacks on 9/11 from our living room in Oregon,” she said.
On the eve of her return to France, she was unsure of what to expect when she returned home. The airport in London she was to fly out of was closed due to a suspicious person, ISIS had just claimed the attack on Paris, and their president had just announced the borders closed.
“For the first time in my life, I felt personally in fear of terrorism,” she said. “I was not comfortable being in the airports or being on the very solemn and quiet plane to France. I was very happy to get home and out of public areas.”
A few days later the Nice airport in which she landed was shut down due to a suspicious car. In her region, people’s houses and apartments were being raided.
“They apprehended a suspect who they think is quite a major ISIS operative just outside an area where we often go to dinner,” she said.
However, upon her return to France, she rejoiced to find the French refusing to live in fear of extremists that tried to break them. Businesses were open, heads were held high and people were coming together stronger than before, much like Americans in the wake of 9/11.
“Life carried on. The energy was somber and definitely a bit quieter, but this is a country of proud, dignified people,” she said. “I definitely got the sense that nobody wanted to give the terrorists the satisfaction of changing their life.”
Although her experience has certainly differed from those eight hours away in Paris, Schonback is convinced that some good will come from this bad situation.
“Even in Paris, even in the vicinity of the attacks, people are going out and showing that you don’t mess with French culture, which is really what those attacks targeted. In that aim, the terrorists absolutely failed,” she said.
On Nov. 18, the strength of the culture was defined when a blindfolded Muslim man stood in a public square in Paris and asked people to hug him. The warmth he received by Parisians that embraced him could be expected from a culture that is known for its embrace of love and romance.
“What is truly valued here is time: time with family, time to enjoy life, time to savour food, wine and love,” Schonback said. “There has been a conscious push by the citizens to live life to the max and it is a beautiful thing to watch.”
While many in America are questioning continued acceptance of refugees, in France Schonback sees a very different reaction.
In Europe, where all of this is actually happening and where people are being actually impacted, you have so many citizens donating to refugee aid organizations, taking refugee families into their homes as they transition, giving away food and clothing and hugs,” she said.
As France sits on the world stage, the world watches America’s oldest ally rebuild a culture too strong to be broken.
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