My Heart is with Istanbul

I am extremely saddened by the news of yet another bombing in a place I have visited and loved. Istanbul is one of my favorite cities, even though I only had a few short hours to explore the city.

I have always been a history buff, and one of the first places I had ever put on my travel bucket list was the Hagia Sophia. Both the city and the mosque are significant as the crossroads of Christianity and Islam, of Asia and Europe, a pinnacle of architecture from the Byzantine era until today. I was so excited to finally see the mosaic of the emperor, Justinian, in person. I cannot explain how happy I was to wander the streets and see ancient roman ruins just sitting there, a part of the urban fabric, to see the beautiful mixture of past and present built into the city's form.

As a City Planner, I also absolutely loved the transit system of light rail and streetcars that was so easy to navigate throughout the city. Attaturk International Airport, the subject of today's attacks, actually has a rail line that takes you from the airport directly to the City Center, near the Grand Bazaar. I have raved about this feature to everyone who ever mentioned of Istanbul within my earshot. And now, within the past year alone, there have been attacks on rail lines, in the plaza between the Hagia Sophia and the Blue Mosque (where I am standing in the photo below), and the airport.

I wish things like this could stop. I wish evil people - or rather, people who wish to hurt others - didn't exist in this world. I wish we could live and let live in a world so diverse and so full of different beautiful cultures and religions and lifestyles. But this kind of danger is a risk we have to take if we want to see the world. And frankly, it's a risk we take each time we step outside our front door, even within the U.S. as the Orlando shootings have reminded us.

I am not sure that I would go to Istanbul if my trip were happening this year instead of in 2014, especially since I went alone. But the idea that this fear of terrorist activities is stunting national economies, preventing people from traveling, and leaving magnificent historic places destitute of people just breaks my heart. That is what terrorists want. They want to use that fear to further their agendas. I know we can't let them win, but I don't know how to balance resilience with the desire to stay safe. I just don't know how to do my part to make things better, as much as I wish I could. But for now, my heart is with Istanbul on this tragic day.