Getting back to the playground

Brussels is gradually getting back on its feet. People are still deeply shocked but they remain very composed. There has been no real manifestation of racism or xenophobia. Actually, the rallies in the city centre have attracted people from different backgrounds. That´s already a remarkable victory against the criminals that have decided to bring pain and chaos to the city and the country. The killers wanted to kill social peace and national harmony. They have not been allowed to achieve that.

Last evening I went to the theatre, as I had planned long before. The playhouse, a very well-known cultural institution, is located in the middle of an area of town where the vast majority of the residents are Muslims and other kinds of foreign people – the commune of Saint Josse, for those who know Brussels. There are, every evening, three plays running in the premises. Yesterday, it was business as usual. People, many of them older Belgian retirees mixing up with well-off younger fellows, came in large numbers. Not many, just a small number have cancelled their reservations. That was a nice and courageous response to the events of these very dramatic few days.

And, as they sat there, they knew they could become very vulnerable if a crazy pair of fellows had decided to bring chaos and pain to the show. I spent some time looking at my fellow spectators and felt good. As they enjoyed the play, they were silently telling me and my fears that life goes on. No need to change habits just because of some fanatics and their profoundly wrong and acutely disturbed approach to today´s world.