A year ago today, many of us woke up, showered, prepared breakfast, turned on the TV or the radio and were horrified to hear that 3 bombs had detonated almost simultaneously near the Renfe Cercanías stations of El Pozo, Santa Eugenia and Atocha during the busy morning rush as Madrid '
went to work.'
Miguel Ángel, one of my former co-workers, a telecommunications engineer, all around great guy and a father of three was killed instantly in the Atocha bomb on his way to work.
Antonio, the father of two of the students at our English academy, was waiting for the doomed Atocha train from the platform, was caught in the expansion of that blast, laid in a coma for two weeks on the brink of death, had to have one half of his face reconstructed and has miraculously recovered though, according to his wife, still suffers nightmares as well as other episodes as a result of the blast.
Elena, another 15 year old student at our Center who had just transfered from the Santa Eugenia area to our town lost two of her former classmates on that train, the same that she would have been riding on had she still lived in that area.
Personally, I just finished a free-lance consulting contract in Delicias, near Atocha. I rode the Renfe C-5 line from Alcorcón to Atocha from June of 94 to January of this year. I was humbled and filled with reverence every time the train pulled into Atocha. This rite of passage was a hard sensation to put into words.
And there are many, many other stories like this coming again out today as though these attacks had occured yesterday. Regardless of the politicized stories and accounts that many news-media outlets feed us in an effort to help us scratch an itch for instant information-junkie gratification, there are real people and stories behind every tragedy of this variety that happen all over the world on a daily basis, not only here in Madrid.
However, Spain had never experienced such a barbaric attack as the one that occured here a year ago today. Many of the victims, especially those caught in the El Pozo blast, were themselves immigrants and of the poorest Madridians who most certainly did NOT deserve the fate that they received. I hope you will join me and others in remembering those who lost their lives while trying to make a living for them and their families.
May we not forget our friends... Any other stories or condolences are welcomed on this thread.
