We may be small, but we have balls of steel.

Yesterday I was walking around in my school and my friends and I were talking about what had happened that morning in Brussels, I didn't know much of it yet but then we read the news and found out that at least 18 people were dead and several wounded. For some reason it didn't hit me that this actually happened very close to me, a 12 minute train ride away from where I am right now. We then talked about it more and more and every teacher also briefly mentioned how unbelievable it is, we kept track on the news and the number of dead people kept growing and eventually there was already over 30 of them, I kept getting messages from home, my friends and family from Estonia were asking if I was okay but all I could think of was the fact that I have friends who live in Brussels, I have friends and people that I know that could have been there during the attack, in the metro station, people who work in the airport. These attacks hit close to home to me. During the Paris attacks of course the situation was awful and it was a very sad time, but this time something felt different. And I've realized it's because Belgium is now my home, too, and I am a Belgian, I have been accepted by this tiny waffle country, I am also part of this culture, it is my home, too. 

And yes I'm being selfish, cause I only realised how seriously these attacks actually influence people after it had hit me close to home. There are things like these happening in Africa every day, and they don't get any mentioning in the media, even though every day, many families break in Africa, and we act like this isn't even happening. 

But I realised it just recently, yesterday 34 people died and many were seriously injured, tens of families are now broken, little kids have lost their mothers, grandparents have lost their grandchildren, people have lost people that they love, it all happened in my own home country. And it happened a few months ago in my neighbour country, hundreds of families are now broken, it happens every day in Africa, this is just sad.

I have friends who work in the airport and that same evening I saw them and they said that they had just decided to stay home that day because they couldn't go to work for a reason. I have friends who take that metro line couple of times a week, it was all just a matter of timing.

But these attacks don't just affect people who were there or whose close ones were directly affected by it. The whole Belgium and the whole Europe, really, is in fear. In Belgium the danger level is set to maximum hight, thus level 4. Which to me means that I am not allowed to travel around and discover this beautiful country until the danger level has dropped. Today I only have 95 days left here, and these people who don't care about others and think it's okay to just kill several people, they're also wasting my precious time and are just very much annoying me in every single way.

Today at 12pm at school we had a moment of silence and it was so sad to hear the church bells playing non-stop with the flag only at half mast, to honour those who have lost their lives. 

I have seen a trend all over the Internet with the hashtag #stopIslam, and it is so stupid, how a whole religion is now looked down upon, all thanks to a group of stupid people from that religion, who don't give a shit about what other people have to go through.

Despite all that, it's beautiful to see how different countries can come together, just like during the Paris attacks, yesterday evening a lot of famous buildings where in the Belgium flag colours, and tonight also the Tallinn teletorn will be in black-yellow-red colours. My one home country showing his support to my other home country.

We may be small, but we have balls of steel.

(Regarding, of course, the Atomium, if you didn't get it)