Following the bomb blast of April 12, 2011, in the Minsk Metro stations, Belarus is changed forever. News sources report that this is the first terror event in modern Belarus history, and hopefully the last. Neighboring Russia has a long history of terror attacks, and their people have come to expect this as a normal event. Belarus has enjoyed a relative quiet twenty years, since the Soviet Union broke up, and has often viewed terror as something that happens elsewhere. It is sad to see a countries emotions completely change overnight. It reminds me of how the US felt the day after the Sept 11 attacks in 2001. I don't wish those emotions on anyone.
Many of the elderly of Belarus remember the horrors of World War II, and thankfully, the subsequent generations have been spared needing to deal with fears such as this. It's almost as if the country has lost its innocence. The video I've posted below tells the story. It is in Russian, but the emotions are the same. Makeshift memorials have been erected, masses and services are being held, all to remember and pay respects to those who have died or have been injured. The second lady in the interview says that you can see the sorrow on the faces of the people in the city. I could see the sorrow in my wife's face as she saw the news clips on the Internet, of the horror that occurred in the same Metro station that I would buy her flowers before I picked her up from work. I'll never be able to think of it in the same way.
Tragedy at Minsk Subway » Belteleradiocompany
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