I believe in questioning almost everything, especially why we do what we do. Today it’s because many subscribers on my Love Knysna Facebook have French flags on their profile pictures. Many of you I recognise and know to be good people so take this not as an accusation but a positive intention to make you think.

I’m an emotional person who believes that we have to rub our noses in the mess of our world so that we never forget that we need to be better humans. Consequently, I watched enough footage of, and read enough interviews about, the Paris terrorist attack until I felt traumatised… BUT I never posted the flag on my page because it’s so damn biased.

Why are there no African flag options when the latest innocents are bombed by the West? Do any of you know about the Baga massacre in January or the 43 who died in Beirut the day before the Paris attack? Why are we prone to showing more support to certain kinds of people?

Why, instead, isn’t there an anti-war option or STOP USA, UK & RUSSIA FROM SUPPLYING THE WORLD WEAPONS AND THEN PRETENDING TO CARE ABOUT HUMANS option?

Why isn’t there a happy Facebook flag when horrible people who hurt our world die? If that were an option, would you make an anti-Barack Obama flag your profile picture the day he died?

Are you going to cheer now that France has found an excuse to join America in getting revenge? And that idiot jihadists will plan more attacks in return?

There are two sides to most stories, more important to realise when it comes to war where it is the general public, like you and me, who are the ones to suffer.

It’s important that we don’t be fickle and commercial, reacting to horror with a feel-good moment that requires no effort. It’s more the result of Hollywood attitude marketing than it is about true, good intent.

Whether we’re French, British, African, Christian or Moslem, we all bleed the same colour when we’re stabbed, shot and bombed. Our blood is red, more often than not, the colour of the public.