EDITOR’S LETTER As a human being, I was terribly chocked of the terrorist attacks of November 13, 2015 in Paris. There are no words to express my feelings during and after the events. I have been deeply shocked and saddened by the terrible loss of life in Paris and wanted to express my “utter, total horror”. For us French people, liberté, égalité, fraternité (liberty, equality, fraternity) is more that the national motto of France. The road to liberty, equality and fraternity in France was a long one. Liberty is as precious to the French as it is to any national. Our passion for freedom of thought and speech is especially intense. Our passion for equality is intense and this because it took years to get full equality of all citizens. Any man aspires to liberty, to equality, but he cannot achieve it without the assistance of other men, without fraternity. The national motto is inscribed on our public buildings and our schools. It appears in the constitutions of 1946 and 1958 and today is an integral part of our national heritage and of who we, French people, are and to what we believe. The terrorist attacks were not just attacks in Paris, not just on the people of France, but attacks on all of humanity and the universal values that we all share. Terrorism is an attack against our universal values. When some groups choose to attack our universal values, our citizens and our country, we have to be united and protect ourselves. The death of innocent and the sum of the suffering inflicted on civilians by terrorist groups is not and cannot be justified by any religion. Our struggle as citizens of this world must remain ideological, not against a religion, but we have to defend our values against the obscurantism of some illuminated. This issue is our Christmas issue and our initial plans were to make a festive issue, full of joy and Christmas spirit. As you understand, for the entire team, this was very difficult. We tried to do our best, but our sorrow for all the innocent people killed in Paris is huge. We lost friends, relatives, family, compatriots, citizens that shared the same universal values with us. I would like to dedicate this issue to the memory of all the innocent victims of the Paris terrorist attacks of November 13. I join my prays hoping that all this madness will stop and humanity will live in peace. The entire team of the Jewellery Historian, express our most sincere condolences to the families of those who have died and to the French people.
Lucas Samaltanos-Ferrier Founder & Editor-in-Chief
Jewellery Historian
| DECEMBER 2015
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