I went to see a new flat that day, then caught a flight to Edinburgh in the evening to submit a new visa application at the consulate on the second. I remember wondering why all of these kids were dressed up, with the boys carrying flowers. Then I remembered: the first day of school.
I didn’t have time to check the news, between all of my errands and the flight, but after dropping my application off in Scotland first thing the next day, I went to a newsagent to pick up a newspaper to read over breakfast. That’s when I saw the headline: ‘Dear God, what will happen to our children?’ Or something like that — I can’t recall what it was, exactly. I do remember that without even seeing the dateline or knowing where this event was happening, I got a sinking feeling.
None of us should ever forget Beslan. It could happen anywhere.
That day stopped my life like a shattered clock. I am not the same person I was before. I wonder, “who are we…who am I being and in what way did I help create the world in which this can happen?”
Yeah, I always have these thoughts whenever the anniversary rolls around. This thing is ultimately way bigger than geopolitics. It reveals something fundamental about the human race. And I don’t like it.
Natalia A. 
I went to see a new flat that day, then caught a flight to Edinburgh in the evening to submit a new visa application at the consulate on the second. I remember wondering why all of these kids were dressed up, with the boys carrying flowers. Then I remembered: the first day of school.
I didn’t have time to check the news, between all of my errands and the flight, but after dropping my application off in Scotland first thing the next day, I went to a newsagent to pick up a newspaper to read over breakfast. That’s when I saw the headline: ‘Dear God, what will happen to our children?’ Or something like that — I can’t recall what it was, exactly. I do remember that without even seeing the dateline or knowing where this event was happening, I got a sinking feeling.
None of us should ever forget Beslan. It could happen anywhere.
That day stopped my life like a shattered clock. I am not the same person I was before. I wonder, “who are we…who am I being and in what way did I help create the world in which this can happen?”
Yeah, I always have these thoughts whenever the anniversary rolls around. This thing is ultimately way bigger than geopolitics. It reveals something fundamental about the human race. And I don’t like it.