Wednesday January 7th 2015 just after midday. The day after Drie Koningen – Epiphany – and we’d just ceremoniously switched off the Christmas tree lights for another year on our little Christmas tree, that had survived the hot summer on the balcony and hopefully the central heating indoors of the last two weeks.  I was carefully packing away the decorations and placing the fragile Christmas balls one by one back into their box for another year, when my husband Hans, with a shocked and worried face, hurried back into the living room frowning whilst reading out a Twitter message on his phone: Terrorist attack in Paris. 10 journalists killed! Charlie Hebdo!

Later in the afternoon I looked on Facebook for posts from friends and colleagues. Quite quickly I saw that Juliette de Wit had posted a really sweet illustration that looked like a snowball with a hand and red pencil emerging out of the snow, drawing a big red smile. Then I realised that it wasn’t a snowball but a drawing that was almost completely erased but for the words Charlie Hebdo just visible at the top and signed by Tignous at the bottom! The illustration suddenly became very grim!…Juliettes reaction with her illustrator tools to the terrorist attack on Charlie Hebdo!
I Googled Tignous and read that he was one of the four cartoonists, Tignous, Cabu, Wolinski and Charb, that had been executed earlier by two terrorists during an editorial meeting in the Charlie Hebdo headquarters in Paris! 10 Charlie Hebdo journalists murdered and two brave policemen, one executed outside the premises on the street!
In the evening the dreadful scenes were shown on tv…and they continued in the days to come:

Thursday afternoon a policeman was gunned down on a street in Paris by an unknown terrorist.

Thursday evening in Amsterdam we were there on Dam Square with 18 thousand demonstrators holding up our pencils and our Je Suis Charlie banners in solidarity with our murdered colleagues in Paris.
Friday at midday the two Charlie Hebdo terrorists were tracked down just outside Paris and cornered in a printers.
Friday just after midday a Jewish supermarket in the centre of Paris was attacked by a single terrorist.
Friday at 5 pm the police stormed the printers. One hostage was released and the two Charlie Hebdo terrorists, brothers, were killed as they tried to shoot their way out!
Friday at 5:10pm the police stormed the Jewish Supermarket. Sixteen hostages were saved but four innocent hostages had already been murdered by the unknown terrorist from thursdays police killing. He was gunned down by the police as he emerged shooting.
Sunday a huge manifestation on the streets of Paris and in the rest of France with nearly three million people marching side by side, hand in hand, singing, waving flags, Je Suis Charlie and Freedom of speech banners and holding up high their pens and pencils!

This all began only five days ago but it feels much much longer.
We were, as millions of people around the world, in shock!

But today I feel the power of my pencil, the strength and inspiration of my colleagues everywhere and a heart warming love and solidarity for our honorable profession.
Today It’s Another Day… Keep smiling!

(Thank you Juliette for allowing me to show your ‘Tignous’ illustration.)