On Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport

For many of us airports are a necessary evil and for others they represent places of excitement, of partings and unitings. Tears of sadness and tears of joy. Recently some of them have become places of tragedy, terror and fear. Not all airports look the same, are as big as others or offer the same services, but across the globe some just stand out as special places. For me Istanbul Ataturk airport is such a place. If you’ve been there you’ll never forget it, it’s a place unlike any other I have visited. And not because of building itself.

It is so much more than the meeting place between Europe and Asia, more than a place to change planes, more than a regional hub, more than a place where Starbucks sits next to Turkish coffee. It stands out because of the people. Over 10 million people come and go each year, transiting from Asia, Africa, Europe, the Americas and Australia, it is certainly cosmopolitan. But to me why it stands out is because it is the absolute melting pot of our world today. A crossroads of more diversity than any other place I’ve ever visited on earth. And that makes it special and truly beautiful.

This week’s bombing, the terror and the loss of life, is an assault on the best of everything and everyone our globalized world has to offer. It shattered the hopes and dreams of that beautiful melting pot of humanity. An attack on that place IS an attack on us all.

Here at 3 Generations we mourn the loss of life, we pray for the injured and those who lost loved ones. We also believe that what happened at Ataturk airport, thousands of miles from here, puts our faith in common humanity to the test.

But in Istanbul, life moves on, planes are flying and the people of Istanbul and particularly those of Ataturk airport, are not daunted, they are working and healing and going about their business, an example to all of us. We salute them.

Jane Wells