päivi was the first finn i got to know. we met during the time i was in the army and georg had founded entree. after she left i vowed that i’d go there one day – finland, to see what is like. the rest is history, i went there for the first time on august 1st 2001 and it became my home. i never made it to tuusula, where päivi is from, but i drove by that little town time after time making my way back from helsinki to jyväskylä. yesterday, an armed high-school student shot eight people in jokela, next to tuusula. he shot them merciless after posting a video about his plans to youtube. it was after hockey practice i got the news by short message on my cell – and i couldn’t believe it. i still can’t. finland is small, a small peaceful country, a language island, mostly tightly knit communities. when i talked to päivi today, we always kept in touch over the years, she couldn’t believe it either. it’s a thing that can’t be erased from memory from now on. finland lost its innocence in one way or another.
i believe.
I couldn’t believe it either. It immediately reminded me of a time 11 years ago when Tasmania, another small island community lost its own innocence in a similar way. It never makes sense though.