Day after the funerals

This is a newly discovered website for me, and I'm very glad to have found it. These have been very black days here in Madrid and I just wanted to share my experiences with people on this site who probably have followed the events after the massacre with disbelief. Yesterday was a particularly bleak day as it was the day of the State Funeral in the Almudena and I then went on to attend the funeral of the brother of one of my friends at the Basilica Church very near Atocha station. I don't want to comment on the political and religious ramifications of the State Funeral, but suffice it to say that I wept a lot when I saw the Royal Family passing through the families of the victims. I think what struck me so much was the sheer grief in the faces of the people - particularly noticeable in the faces of the King and the Queen. It was a sight I shall never forget - the hopelessness and the futility of what happened, and yet a publically expressed grief that I think may have helped the families in some small way. I felt then very very close to the sufferers and to the people of Spain. Going on to the private funeral later was a very difficult experience - the massacre seemed so close and yet I felt so useless. One can provide support and "solidarity" but at the same time one feels so "inutil". But now life goes on - Madrid IS a different place, it has suffered enormously but has shown hidden strengths which I feel have united us. I feel now immensly proud to be living here and to have shared the grief with the families of the victims. As a musician, I have travelled and worked in many different places - noticeably in several "danger" spots such as Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Belfast -but this terrible event on 11-M will be engrained in my memory as one of the worst human tragedies I have ever been near. A person I work with was on the bombed train going in to Atocha - he survived; a friend of mine was in Atocha station at the time when the bombs went off - he survived too. Those of us who survive must reflect and never forget the horrors of that day.

When I saw on CNN what had happened that day, was one of the worst days of my life. Seemed I relived 9/11 again. I'm glad to hear that your friends made it out ok. I hope that the families that lost loved ones in that attack are getting all the help they need in this senseless tragedy.