Almost two weeks ago a cowardly terrorist blew himself up at an Ariana Grande concert at the Manchester Arena for no other reason than to harm children.
That horrendous night claimed the lives of 22 people and injured countless more as the UK and the wider world were shocked anyone could commit an act so depraved aimed at children.
Despite all the grief – and there’s been a lot – the people of Manchester responded to the attack with a huge outpouring of love, unity and fearlessness.
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So much so, a huge benefit concert was organised by Ariana Grande’s management team to quickly show the perpetrators of this attack, nothing would stop us living our lives the way we want to.
With the likes of Justin Bieber, Katy Perry, Miley Cyrus, a supposed appearance by Oasis and Coldplay attending, tickets were always going to go at a premium and that was the case as they sold out in just six minutes.
Naturally, all proceeds were going to go to victims of the Manchester attack.
However, there was one special group of people who were no way going to be charged to enter the venue and those were the children and parents and guardians who were injured during the attack and managed to get away from it with their lives.
Today, as they returned to watch Ariana Grande at the One Love Manchester benefit gig, hordes and hordes of people stopped to clap them as they walked into the venue.
Check out the emotional moment below:
The victims of the Manchester concert arriving at #OneLoveManchester ? so much bravery and strength pic.twitter.com/aVYYTCcVZz
— Nemo Carlos&Dennis? (@ArianatorIsland) June 4, 2017
That’s quite something.
Though the memories of the Manchester bombing may never fully go away, let’s hope these kids and their families can have enough special nights like tonight to erase the horrendous memory as best they can.
With love and support from the community like this, that seems like it could be a possibility.
One love.
Taking the idea of ‘being woke’ to a whole new level over a decade-long career in sport, court and online news, George has worked for titles and agencies including ESPN FC, Eurosport, LADbible and Court News UK. He may not have a degree but does have an unhealthy obsession with Lord of the Rings.