In Remembrance of those who have died, been hurt, or in any other way been impacted 13 April 2024, Bondi Junction (6 km from Sydney centre)

Oh, Bless You, our dearly beloved six Sydneysiders, whom we lost last Saturday, 13 April 2024, at Bondi Junction from being stabbed by one madman wielding a knife.

You are dearly loved by this great city and country, which I have been honoured to be a part of for the past 34 years.

You were all Australians …some of you were born here, and some came from different countries to seek refuge from this country.

We will not forget you.

You will always remind us that our lives and loved ones should NEVER be taken for granted.

(Bondi Junction is one of the hearts of our city of Sydney. It is 6 km from downtown Sydney. It is 2.5 km from the famous Bondi Beach).

Prayers for your family and your friends.

Prayers for the twelve people who are still fighting to recover from their stab wounds, including the beautiful baby at 7 months who is fighting for their life -- and is now motherless.

Prayers for the people who are suffering trauma as a result of this event. Many of you were caught in the shopping mall, stores, bathrooms, and broom closets, trying to escape the madman. Trauma pervades through Sydney, Australia, and the world.

Prayers for the first responders, the hospitals, the police, the ambulance drivers, and the list goes on. This list also includes volunteers and other mental health professionals who continue to wander all over Bondi Junction to assist anyone who might need it.

I am so grateful to those first responders, who gave first aid despite the danger. Twelve people were saved because these people knew first aid and CPR -- and dared to provide their services whilst a knife-wielding madman was running around.

(Coincidentally, I took my annual CPR resuscitation course this morning. Never have I listened and practised so intensely. My recommendation is that as many of you who can-----

take a CPR and FIRST AID course and renew it every year).

Prayers for all of us on this Earth as we continue to lose our beloved fellow humans on every part of this globe from any form of unnecessary violence.

Today, the 18th of April, is Remembrance Day for those Sydneysiders who lost their lives and were otherwise impacted by the events of last Saturday, the 13th of April.

May we remember to pause at least once a day, every day …take a deep breath, and feel our heart beating.

All humans have these two things in common…breath and heart beats. Every other parts of our bodies might be different from each other ….but these two parts ….are same no matter who we are.

That seems obvious,but….

…I wonder why this commonality is not enough to prevent the insanity of killing each other.

And so we wear a black ribbon today. My dear partner, Kash GIllies, lives around the corner from Bondi Junction, and we were both walking 500 metres from the Westfields Mall.

We feel blessed not to have been there in some ways, but this "blessedness" for being so close -- yet not there --- seems so self-absorbed and horrendously disrespectful to those who were there and impacted.

Today, April 18th, the Westfields Bondi Junction shopping mall is open to all mourners before they reopen the shops tomorrow. I went to the middle of the mall, where there were stunning flowers in grief for all those impacted.

I cried for all of you who were impacted, for humanity. Perhaps people will tell me I am being overly theatrical.

I think not.

Humanity has worn a black ribbon since the Roman Empire two millennia ago as a public display of grief when words are not enough to express our sorrow.

We humans of this Earth have worn this black ribbon many, many, many times in commemoration of victims after specific incidents, just as we did after the death of Diana (1997), the Boston Marathon (2013), the 9/11 attacks, the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2011 earthquakes in Japan and New Zealand, for Nelson Mandela (2013) . . .. and hundreds more events.

We also wear black ribbons to mark tragic events in history such as the Holocaust or genocides . . .

For example, our world holds a Black Ribbon Day annually on 23 August -- a remembrance day for the victims of all totalitarian and authoritarian regimes . . .

We wear the black ribbon often to mourn our beloved lost in mass shootings, such as at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut in 2012, where we lost 20 children aged 6-7 years old and 6 adult staff. This is the town where my cherished university roommate, Laura Shaw Nowacki, is the town's paediatrician -- there in 2012 . . . and still healing so many people today.

No doubt, the black ribbon has been worn at many of the mass shootings in the world. In the US, there have already been 147 mass shootings in 2024. The last one was yesterday. Since 1 January 2013, there have been 6052 mass public shootings in the US. (Defined as a single outburst of violence in which four are more people are shot).

In Australia, the Port Arthur massacre was a mass shooting that occurred on 28 April 1996, killing 35 people and wounding 23 others. It remains the deadliest massacre in modern Australian history.

Within weeks of this tragedy, Australian Prime Minister John Howard implemented critical changes to gun safety legislation with bipartisan state, territory and Commonwealth support.

Since 1996, Australia has had some public shootings, and they have usually resulted in 1-2 deaths.

55 people have been killed by these tragic public shootings in Australia since 1996 (almost 30 years). I don't know the statistics for knives.

I hope this puts in context that losing six people last Saturday through stabbing is enormous for us.

God only knows how many more have occurred around the world. I tend to focus on the US (my country of childhood (21 years) and Australia (my country of adulthood (34 years)).

But this morning, I looked at the world map on my bedroom wall and reminded myself that I am, most importantly, an earthling.

All of us Australians can't help but wonder what would have happened if our gun laws did not exist.

HOWEVER, HOWEVER, HOWEVER, HOWEVER HOWEVER, HOWEVER, HOWEVER, HOWEVER, HOWEVER . . . .

...regardless of how many people are killed and wounded unnecessarily; whatever the weapon, whatever the circumstance, wherever they are on this Earth . . .

. . . . losing just ONE of our fellow humans

due to utterly unnecessary violence . . . . . .

. . . . is CATASTROPHICALLY tragic.

No words come close to describing these acts against humanity and the gifts we have been given, which are called "lives."

Today, perhaps we might wear at least a virtual black ribbon within our hearts as we pray for all those of us impacted by the wars and other unnecessary violence against humanity around the world.

And today, I pray in the memory of

Ashlee Good protecting her 9-month daughter

Cheng Yixuan

Dawn Singleton

Faraz Tahir

Jade Young

Pikria Darchia

May you Rest in Peace.