Shootings in Serbia

"Shooting again, 8 dead - Serbia"

A report in today's Japanese newspaper

Very unusual to see a name of this country in the Japanese newspaper

Even more unusual to see it in the two consecutive days

Then, this must be far more unusual & horrific for people in Serbia

---

Remembering something;

"Thank you for coming to our country"

I was said like this last summer in Belgrade from a young Serbian uni student 

For a moment it sounded strange to my ears

Not only because he said this in front of a naughty night club at 2am on Friday with a glass of beer on our hand

But also because I went to Serbia, since I'd wanted
Not like he or someone invited me

Not to mention, I did nothing to be appreciated 

He noticed my slight confusion & continued

"You know, our country is often misunderstood by many, because of history, stereotypes etc etc"

I could imagine what he meant

Outsiders make their opinions, based on things
that are available the most easily
that are most noticeable
that are most easy to understand
& that are most comfortable for their ears

And then, opinions between outsiders & insiders become very different 

Undoubtedly I do this all the time with things which are not so related to my life as a way of coping with an enormous amount of information attacking me in every seconds

But surely what news media tells greatly affects views of a lot of people

When the Japanese current PM/prime minister was attacked last month, also ex-PM/Abe was killed last summer, both news were placed on the top position on websites of BBC, CNN & other international news media for a while, like these two shooting incidents in Serbia

As much as I was concerned with people who were affected by incidents, I was also thinking how this would produce rather negative, distorted images about safety & other aspect of the country and its people

For those who live in the country, it feels that nothing has changed much. At least, nothing has drastically worsened. Still everyday life is going on

But for those
who are outside
who have extremely limited information
& who are disconnected from "the reality" of the country, 

it looks very different
Often completely different

One human's one stupid, despicable, evil act expands & affects far beyond from his/her poor imaginations