there aren't words.

And while I'm just about the least eloquent person I know, I feel the need to say something.

We haven't been to Paris for three years, and I'm always a little ashamed that we don't take proper advantage of our proximity to such a sprawling, intriguing, beautiful, frustrating, delicious, cultured, storied place. However. A large-format version of this photo, from the first time Mike and I went there together, hangs on our apartment wall, and has for most of the time that we've lived in Switzerland.

I've always thought it was rather a romantic and mysterious shot, but it's become a heartbreaking symbol this week. How people from any background can have such evil in their hearts is beyond comprehension. How the survivors, their friends and families, this city, and the "civilized" world at large can cope with this week's events remains to be seen; all any of us can do is hope and pray for solidarity and compassion and safety and--above all--peace, and the triumph of good over evil. And not just in Europe, but everywhere; my heart hurts for Ankara, and Syria, and Beirut, and Burundi, and Yemen, and Nigeria. (Why does the list only seem to grow longer...?)

Safety and peace to you, my friends, and to those who support democracy and tolerance and self-determination and freedom for all.