Squeeze Kids acknowledges the traditional owners of the lands on which we podcast the Turrbal and Combermeri people.
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Hello and welcome to this special Squeeze Kids extra episode.
As you know, we were supposed to be on summer break this week, but very occasionally something happens in the world, in our community.
It's a lot for little brains to muddle through.
And so here we are.
I'm Bryce Corbett, and this is a Squiz Kids special edition.
Now, if you had your listening ears on last week, you'd know that today we were meant to be bringing you one of the happiest podcasts of the year, our annual Squiz Kids QA with Santa Claus.
And normally there'd be nothing that could be more important than hearing from the big man in red himself.
But something happened in Sydney on Sunday night that might have a lot of you out there wondering and possibly a little bit unsettled.
Which is why we've decided to postpone our Santa podcast until tomorrow and bring you this special episode instead.
You might be aware from news reports that Bondi Beach in Sydney was the scene of an awful terror attack on Sunday evening.
Hundreds of people of the Jewish faith were gathered for a picnic by the sea to celebrate a really important date on the Jewish calendar.
It's a holiday called Hanukkah, also known as the Festival of Lights.
Just as Christians celebrate Christmas, Hanukkah is widely celebrated by Jews all over the world.
It's usually a joyous time for families to gather together, eat yummy foods, exchange gifts and celebrate being part of a community.
So, you know. just like Christmas.
Except on Sunday evening.
Near the sands of Bondi Beach, one of the most famous beaches in the country and usually a place of fun, the celebration turned to tragedy when two men armed with guns opened fire on the gathering.
What was a peaceful get-together of families turned into one of the worst terror attacks Australia has ever seen, with 16 people killed.
What's a terror attack?
It's exactly what it sounds like when a person or people take it upon themselves to attack a group of fellow humans, to inflict pain and suffering, but also to create an atmosphere of fear in the community.
And fear is something that you might be feeling after seeing all the news headlines and hearing all the reports and seeing videos of the attack on the TV news or online.
And feeling scared for your own safety or the safety of your family and friends is completely normal.
And it can even start to impact how you go about leading your own life.
You might be more anxious or more worried than usual, and that is totally normal.
But there are a few important things to remember.
These sorts of incidents are really, really rare.
They hardly ever happen.
Now, with all of the news coverage and all of the videos online, it's easy to think that this sort of thing happens a lot, but the fact is they don't.
You are as safe today as you were yesterday, and it's worth remembering that over the next few days.
And you should also remember that things like this happen only very rarely in a country like Australia, which is, for the most part, a peace-loving country where people live happily side by side with one another.
It's called tolerance.
And it's what makes us such a great place to live.
The other thing to focus on, how sometimes bad things like this bring out the best in people.
You might have seen video footage of a man tackling one of the gunmen.
Remarkable.
Because, as with every Harry Potter movie, while there may be evil in the world, ultimately the good will triumph.
And that's an important thing to remember.
Because we can all be heroes in this story.
If you have Jewish friends, now is a good time to let them know that you're in their corner, that you are there for them, that if they are feeling scared, assure them that you've got their back.
And even if you don't have Jewish friends, now's a good time to recommit yourself to being a good friend to all of your friends and classmates and siblings.
Be the kind kid.
Because, whether you're Jewish Muslim Christian Hindi, Buddhist or anything in between, We're all on this planet together.
And there's so much wonder in this world, so much to celebrate and be grateful for.
And the best way that you can honour those who lost their lives in this terrible attack is to make a promise to always be tolerant, always be interested in other people and remember that, as humans, there are ultimately many more things to unite us than there are to divide us.
Thank you.
