the result of this attack ended with a death toll of over 90 people, and still counting.
a 32 year old norwegian man had bombed the oslo government building, killing 7 innocent people, and injuring at least 15.
the police began to lock down a large area of the city, when the suspect, a man dressed as a police offer made his way to the island of utoya, which at the time was a summer camp for young members of the of the governing labor party.
the suspect told the islanders that he was doing "a routine check in connection with the terrorist attack in oslo."
as handfuls of people on the island began to gather around the disguised police officer, he began mercilessly killing everyone and anyone in sight.
the youth began to run. some hid, and some jumped into the water and began swimming the long 19 miles back to the mainland.
witnesses say, he first started to shoot the people on the island, and then began to shoot the people in the water.
one young man saw the shooter coming his way, so he laid down next to handfuls of bodies, and pretended to be dead. as the shooter walked right past him, the young man said that he could feel the heat from his gun.
most of the victims on the island were young teenagers. some were rescued on their frantic swim back to the mainland, some were able to hide for their lives on the island, and some still haven't been accounted for.
after the shooting, police seized the 32-year-old shooter, anders behring breivik, and they later found explosives on the island.
police were able to truly identify the shooter due to his facebook page and twitter account. authorities later found the last tweet breivik had tweeted, stated; "one person with a belief is equal to the force of 100,000 who have only interests."
well, anders behring breivik... that is where you are misfortunately mistaken. this "belief" that you have construed to make yourself believe it isn't just that, in unbelievable sickening. whatever "belief" gave you the right to slaughter handfuls off innocent children, parents, and citizens, you WILL pay for. however morbid this may sound; i pray at night that you won't be given the death penitently, but be thrown in prison and slowly tortured every day until you wish you were dead.
whenever i sit and think about this devastating attack, i can't help but ask; "why?". i simply just don't understand why one would allow such a thing to happen. i should've been asking myself this same question on september 11th, but i guess i was too young to comprehend exactly what was going on in that moment. sure, now i look back and wonder why, but the gravity of it all is much lighter then it was then. i've had time to heal, we all have. i think the one thing that made september 11th so numb for most americans, is that the man who was the mastermind behind that attack, was still out there, hiding who knows where, and we couldn't find him. he was still plotting, and it was almost like he had gotten away with it. nothing has driven to me more insane, than to think someone out in this big old world had the control to end my life anytime he wanted to, or at least it seemed that way. luckily, us americans found exactly where he was. and for every norwegian effect by this attack, the only good thing that has occurred since, is that capture of anders behring breivik.
things like this make me step back out of my chaotic life, and realize how small i am, but yet... how big i am. i may be one out of seven billion, but if i was gone in a matter of seconds, i know my life would suddenly mean so much to hundreds. as would the lives of all of my loved ones, friends, and acquaintances. the human life is so precious, and to think so many lives have been taken in this past week, literally makes me physically sick.
we should all take this time to become closer to our loved ones, to cut people a break, and to realize how easily it could all end. remember how lucky each and everyone of us are to be alive today, wherever we are and whatever we're going through; remember, someone always has it worse than us.
"look beneath the surface; let not the several quality of a thing nor its worth escape thee"
pray for norway
6,1
XX
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