It was a weird déjà vu sensation watching the unfolding horrors of the massacre in Norway. This is a country known for peace – the Nobel Peace Prize to be even more specific. But to me, there is another touch of tragedy that coincides with my earliest memories of this beautiful and peaceful country.
It was in April of 1999. My family and I were taking a train from Oslo towards Bergen in adventure known as “Norway in a Nutshell.” It is a tour that gives you the best of all Norwegian things, taking you from Oslo to Bergen with stops in the ski resort of Voss with a side trip down to a fjord at Gudvangen.
As we were taking the train up over the mountain pass, we heard some distraught English speakers talking about a horrible occurrence in a place called Columbine. A massacre in a school? Could they be speaking the truth? Did they know what they were talking about?
In 1999, the internet was not as prevalent. News was not at your fingertips via smartphones. I remember how torn we all were as we rode the train, traveling up to snow capped ski-areas and then down to the crystal clear waters of the fjord and wondering what really happened. We got bits and pieces of news along the way and the truth proved to be devastating.
My subsequent trips to Norway were always tinged with that first sad recollection, but it is a country I have learned to love. The people are easy to laugh. The country itself, unbelievably pristine and clean. I have stood on the shores of islands like Utoya and I can’t imagine such a peaceful setting erupting in the terror that befell the campers there.
Getting word of last week’s attack instantly made me think of Columbine again. Two horrific incidents, Two events brought by twisted thinking. Two tragedies that no one could have really predicted. But to me, forever intertwined.
The callous brutality of this past weekend and its sheer senselessness is only magnified by the fact of where it occurred. We read about rashes of violence that break out in other countries. But not Norway. At least not until last week.
After that first trip to Norway, I felt I had to go back replace the bad memories with good. It’s happened again and I know now that I have to go back to Norway. I have to see the mountains, the fjords and see the smiles again; to know that what Anders Breivik did was a true anomaly. Norway deserves a better memory than this.
