I send you my prayers for the loss of life that I have read about in the events transpiring in Manchester. I pray for your safety and security. May God be with us all in such a time of need. I remain your friend and extend my lifelong support.
Dan / Seattle
It's awful isn't it! Those poor kids it wasn't even an adult based concert...wishing you a better day my friend Dan and family xxxxx
This is so devasting so sad such young lives taken to early for no reason at all , my heart is broken such a sad sad day😭😭😭
May the angels spread their wings and comfort all those who this tragic event affected 😭😭😭😭
Thanks, I'm watching news from Bali but heard it was suicide bomber so far.
From my knowledge it's unlikely to have been any other group than a lone wolf or someone with connections to ISIS.
The whole point of terrorism is to create fear and political change by actions that involve loss of lives or destroy major infrastructure.
This is getting beyond the traditional 'reasons' for terrorism. This is brainwashed individuals who spend too much time on the internet or become radicalised either in refugee camps, individuals coming from other countries or homegrown individuals who are radicalised by those in 'respected positions'.
They believe that by carrying out these actions they will go to paradise and that their family is guaranteed safety on earth and a place in paradise.
This is why asymmetrical warfare is so hard to fight. Even with weapons on every individual out there. There will always be a way for people to do this.
And this then inspires groups opposed to minorities to carry on their campaigns when they are just as bad. They just don't walk around with a bomb on them. Well in the uk they generally don't. They just beat people of colour.
The uk is a prepared country. Long before al Qaeda we had terrorism and agencies and forces to deal with it.
Unfortunately just as in other countries we don't hear on the news the attacks that were stopped, just the ones that took place. And there are many.
I'm praying for all involved last night, Iv heard watching various channels that maybe the 'security ' didn't know what to do. I suspect they saved some lives by spotting that person and telling people to run back inside.
There are many heroes who never get thanked.
Bless you Dan for your kind words. So good to know that the vast majority of people across the world are decent human beings. Sadly a few sick and twisted people seem to want to try and ruin things for the rest of us. We must stand together and not let hatred win - ever!!
Margaret. 💔💔💔xxx
Margaret, Iv travelled a lot but grew up in uk and is my home for now. What these people don't understand is the U.K. Mentality which stems from WWII and the London blitz. It made the uk a country that has always been united and strong no matter what is thrown at us.
When I was moving back to uk I wanted to go to Leeds as that is where my family are but my aunt was to sick and I was promised work in Edinburgh but it didn't work out. Iv been looking a long time now at moving to either Manchester or Leeds as I love both cities.
The word hatred comes from terrorists who obviously are extremists and learn to hate anyone not of their religion which they have twisted so much that it bears no resemblance to Islam anymore. Real Muslims chersish children and women first. These are not Muslims.
Also the thinking of hatred from our side comes from the media and other sources. Radicalists don't want us to hate them they want us to fear them.
So you are 100% right that we will not hate but I just wish the media would stop using that word because it makes the terrorists think they are winning.
Love for our neighbours is what I choose to say.
I felt sad seeing an African looking woman on tv yesterday saying her friend was spat on going to work.
I don't know if you remember the Glasgow shopkeeper who said happy Easter or merry xmas to someone he was not Christian just friendly to his customers. Someone came back and killed him that night.
When I lived in Glasgow many years ago our local chip shop was taken over by a Sikh Indian and he made the best curries out the back, he had wrapped bottles of wine for all his favourite customers for xmas. That's being united.
We need more integration and an end to segregation and any chance for group meetings for this type of event to take place. This starts with children as that is where wrong learning begins.
Wishing a peaceful day to everyone x
I quite agree Amallia, perhaps I did use the wrong word. The issue and perhaps the solution is integration. The UK has always been a melting pot of peoples and open to newcomers, new ideas etc. But any society, no matter how open, needs integration or all that happens is ghettos of different cultures spring up and differences, particularly those of values, are highlighted, and tensions thrive in such an environment.
Personally I don't feel the current atmosphere that the media brand as racism (here in the UK) is racism at all. Or as you say hatred. To me it's a dislike or even fear of those who refuse to integrate into what we feel makes us British, those who don't share our values. Sadly it only takes a few such extremists to stir up feelings that can be misconstrued by media, politicians and others as racism or hatred.
You don’t have to have travelled widely to realise that most people around the world are basically the same, have the same hopes and fears. You see it just watching travelogues and the like on the television.
Overall I feel it’s the differences of values of people that create the biggest tensions. And that is most starkly illustrated in the twisted ideology of people of any race, religion or culture that think it is acceptable to commit murder for the sake of their ideology. And can even do so by murdering innocent children. Surely to any right thinking person that is intransigent, repulsive and extreme indeed.
Love and hugs to all. Xxx 💜🤗💜🤗💜
Margaret you are spot on and I didn't mean to say you used the wrong word. There are so many people out there using words which just don't help and the people of the uk are right to say they don't have hatred. It's not the public but others.
It's a shame how things have changed since I grew up. I went to a catholic school but we had Sikh, Hindu and Muslim kids and they were my friends. My brothers school was the same.
We were invited to all the holy feasts and as kids the end of Ramadan for growing teenagers was a treat, we ate very well.
As I think iv said before on this site the Dalai Lama says if everyone in the world has love and compassion then we have no problems.
I wish it were that simple xxx
Exactly Amallia.
And that's not to say that there isn't racism out there or that all the bad belongs to one 'side'. It doesn't does it, there's good and bad wherever you go. Thankfully mostly good, though sadly there are days lately when you wonder.
I was brought up to believe that the only thing in life that makes us potentially better than the next person (if anything can) is the way we treat other people. After all it's the one and only thing in life that we are all truly in control of. It's our decision and our decision alone how we treat others.
The Dalai Lama is a very wise and admirable man indeed, but as you say, if only it were that simple!
Take care honey and never stop spreading the love. Margaret xxx 💜💜💜
My 21 year old daughter has just gone from being a student in Manchester to being an employee in Manchester. She came out of her first day at work absolutely "buzzing" only to become terribly sda and tearful just a few hours later for her city. I don't know if it's because I have a daughter there, love visiting Manchester and can so identify with the parents who had left their children there to pick up after the concert ended (I've done that with my daughter in the past) but I feel so deeply upset and devastated for the families who have lost their children or other relatives. To echo Margaret, thank you Dan for your kind words. Carol x
Carol.
Than you and God Bless you for your strength.
I have two grown daughters who I love as I did on the day they were born. I can not imagine the grief experienced by you, your family, your community, your city and nation from this tragedy. All I can do is be with you all in spirit and pray for safety, healing and the ability to overcome. Together, we are good people and we will support each other anyway possible to carry on with life. My heart is focused on you folks. Be safe as you can and love your children every minute.
Thanks to all my friends in the U.K. You contribute so much to the betterment of this world.
Dan / Seattle
I used to work at the SECC a long time ago but was very close to a lot of the kids that went to these concerts. This was back in the days where people still camped out for tickets and one of the directors noticed kids sheltering in a bus shelter overnight in winter and decided to set up a spare empty hall for the Them to sleep in overnight.
We would have bicycle racks set up as a queuing system so we would have a couple of thousand kids all lined up with their sleeping bags and food and it would be me and another female security who would sit with them overnight.
They wouldn't sleep they were so excited and would sing all the bands songs and chat to us as they knew we worked with the bands so we got a million questions. We would let their boyfriends stay until midnight but made sure they had a parent coming to collect them. Also the parents dropping off thanked us for loooking after their kids overnight.
We would leave the lights on and heat then give them a shout about 8am to say they had an hour to get ready for the box office to open. They would go brush their teeth and come back.
Then months later we would see them at the concert. I worked backstage but moved around a lot so there would always be getting some hysterically screaming girl run up and hug me and they knew me by name and then I would see them at other events or they would tell me they had seen me on tv at another concert. Wouldn't have been a good look I worked 22 hour shifts a lot. They would say oh you looked beautiful. They were so much fun but the screaming in the actual concert always made me glad a worked behind the scenes.
These kids were my babies when I did this job. I'm sure the security at this concert are feeling the same way right now.
i too send my prayers to help those who are impacted. It is a sad thing that people would do such a horrendous thing. hugs to all.
My new personalized definition
So fed up with my FND 
