This has been mulling around in my head for several days. I’m sure it’ll be confused and make very little sense, but, well…
It’s been five months since the murders in Oslo and Utøya. Nearly 100 families are facing a first Christmas without a loved one that by rights should have been here still.
So many people, most of them very young, living in newly broken bodies, with memories too horrible for anyone to bear.
And life goes on. The city I love looks normal now. The armed guards are gone, the flowers cleared away. Some areas are still blocked off, but it looks more like a building site than the war-zone it was five months ago.
I lost no-one in the attacks. I’m lucky. I haven’t had to grieve, except to grieve with others. And, in truth, my country feels less…different…than I had feared. Things are returning to normal. The news feature new disasters. There have been new murders, of the old, pedestrian kind. We had an outbreak of serial rapes, a few streets away from the bomb cite. A family child molesters were put away. The silly news even came back, at last (I’m good for butter, thanks.)
There have been permanent changes, of course. I imagine “Utøya-survivor” will come to have the same cachet among young politicians as “Resistance Fighter” had to the WWII-generation. There have been new safety measures and laws, though very few. I hope there are no more.
The man who caused all this was recently allowed out of isolation. He has access to newspapers, and restricted internet access. He has been declared mentally unfit for now. The trial will probably take place in the spring.
He will be permitted to receive Christmas presents in his cell. I guess that’s fair enough. He’s still someones kid. He must have loved ones too. I can’t imagine these last few months have been easy for them, either.
I’m not really sure why I’m writing this, except Dopers were so wonderful on July 22, and the days and weeks after. You really helped me through a horrible time. And it was horrible for all of us, even those not directly affected. I guess I’m just in a maudlin mood, and needed to talk. Thanks for listening.