Nothing good happens on Friday the 13th. On Nov. 13, eight or nine ISIS insurgents in Paris initiated a series of coordinated attacks, causing the death of 129 innocent people and injuring 350. According to the DailyNews, just two days after ISIS claimed responsibility for the attacks, ten French and American fighter jets released 20 bombs on ISIS’s headquarters, obliterating a key command center, training camp,and munitions dump.Even though this time there weren’t any civilian casualties, there was a water and electric outage. Who is to say that the next time the French president issues another bombing there won’t be innocent lives lost?

ISIS had promised these attacks were the “first of many,” threatening not just France but America as well. French President Francois Hollande, promising a merciless response, said, “We will eradicate terrorism.” It is important to remember that “an eye for an eye will make the world go blind,” as Gandhi said. Bullying the bully would end all possibilities of world peace.

ISIS has claimed that these attacks on Paris were retaliation to the French air strikes that occurred over the past year in Iraq and Syria. With this being true, Hollande is fighting a retaliation with another retaliation. France is now leading the coalition against ISIS. Hollande is now determined to end terrorism once and for all, so that what happened in Paris will hopefully never happen again. However, all this violence seems to do is continue the cycle of brutal, unsparing vengeance.

It is promising that the world sticks together in such hard times by gathering crowds to pay respects for those who were affected by these attacks. According to MTV, famous buildings like the Sydney Opera House, Los Angeles City Hall, the Senate of Mexico Building, and the One World Trade Center in New York showed their support by displaying the colors of the French Flag. The “Peace for Paris” symbol is circulating social media to honor France.
Sympathetic attributions like these symbolize unity and support. Even though the retaliatory actions are a step further from peace, these attributions are proof of unity among several nations. These attacks on Paris show both the benefits and flaws of the world we live in today.