A French magazine made a comic to help adults talk about the Paris attacks with their kids.
Talking about tragedies with children is really difficult. This magazine hopes to make the conversation a little easier.
In the aftermath of the Paris terrorist attacks on Nov. 13, 2015, hearts around the world melted when we watched French father Angel Le comfort his young son.
Brandon was understandably scared.
GIFs via IN THE NOW/YouTube.
But Angel offered words of comfort.
Because the candles and flowers represent more than just mourning. They're a symbol of the power of peace, unity, healing, and dedication to fighting hate with love.
Understandably, not all of us feel as confident in our abilities to talk to our kids about violent events like this.
In times of tragedy, we struggle to understand what's behind such senseless violence. It can be extra difficult to balance the weight of these feelings when a child comes to us with questions.
How do we answer in a way that's honest and helpful?
Parisian boy looks at memorial candles outside Bataclan concert hall. Photo by Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images.
That's why parents and teachers reached out to Astrapi — one of France's most popular children's magazines — to help with these difficult conversations.
In just 24 hours, Astrapi made and released a free, downloadable two-page pamphlet that makes this tough topic a little bit easier to tackle.
The geniuses behind the pamphlet? French cartoonist Frédéric Benaglia and his editor (and wife) Gwenaelee Boulet — who are parents themselves. They worked quickly to create this vital resource.
English version of the Astrapi pamphlet. Screenshot via BBC News/YouTube.
The pamphlet asks the questions that many children — and even adults — have in the aftermath of terrorist attacks:
"Why kill innocent people? Who are the terrorists? What can we do?"
And it provides some honest, powerful, and comforting answers:
"These ultra-violent men have nothing to do with most Muslims, who live their faith quietly. They are attacking France because it's a free country, where everyone can express themselves and live freely.
The best way to respond to the violence and madness of these men is to continue to live normally and defend one's ideas while respecting others."
Man and child walk by "Pray for Paris" graffiti on the road. Photo by Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images.
Benaglia knew the accompanying images would be just as important as the words, so he worked hard to capture the sadness and compassion many children may have seen in others or felt themselves.
He explains in an interview with PBS, "I didn't want something too aggressive, I didn't want images of the Eiffel Tower broken or bloodied, but I wanted to show the pain. I think that's the feeling we all had."
Screenshot via BBC News/YouTube.
Why use a cartoon to talk about such a serious topic? Child psychologists say illustrations can be a great tool to help children cope with traumatic events.
When it comes to sensitive topics, imagery can be much easier for children to understand than just words. Instead of fumbling over abstract explanations of how the violence was an attack on French values, parents can use this pamphlet to provide an age-sensitive depiction of how terrorism is affecting people.
And the comic has really worked: The pamphlet has already reached so many.
According to PBS, in the first week of the pamphlet's publication, more than 2 million people visited the site to download it.
And the Facebook post announcing the cartoon has almost 15,000 shares, and counting. Now that's a message worth spreading.
A Generation Jones teenager poses in her room.Image via Wikmedia Commons
An office kitchen.via 
An angry man eating spaghetti.via 
An Irish woman went to the doctor for a routine eye exam. She left with bright neon green eyes.
It's not easy seeing green.
Did she get superpowers?
Going to the eye doctor can be a hassle and a pain. It's not just the routine issues and inconveniences that come along when making a doctor appointment, but sometimes the various devices being used to check your eyes' health feel invasive and uncomfortable. But at least at the end of the appointment, most of us don't look like we're turning into The Incredible Hulk. That wasn't the case for one Irish woman.
Photographer Margerita B. Wargola was just going in for a routine eye exam at the hospital but ended up leaving with her eyes a shocking, bright neon green.
At the doctor's office, the nurse practitioner was prepping Wargola for a test with a machine that Wargola had experienced before. Before the test started, Wargola presumed the nurse had dropped some saline into her eyes, as they were feeling dry. After she blinked, everything went yellow.
Wargola and the nurse initially panicked. Neither knew what was going on as Wargola suddenly had yellow vision and radioactive-looking green eyes. After the initial shock, both realized the issue: the nurse forgot to ask Wargola to remove her contact lenses before putting contrast drops in her eyes for the exam. Wargola and the nurse quickly removed the lenses from her eyes and washed them thoroughly with saline. Fortunately, Wargola's eyes were unharmed. Unfortunately, her contacts were permanently stained and she didn't bring a spare pair.
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Since she has poor vision, Wargola was forced to drive herself home after the eye exam wearing the neon-green contact lenses that make her look like a member of the Green Lantern Corps. She couldn't help but laugh at her predicament and recorded a video explaining it all on social media. Since then, her video has sparked a couple Reddit threads and collected a bunch of comments on Instagram:
“But the REAL question is: do you now have X-Ray vision?”
“You can just say you're a superhero.”
“I would make a few stops on the way home just to freak some people out!”
“I would have lived it up! Grab a coffee, do grocery shopping, walk around a shopping center.”
“This one would pair well with that girl who ate something with turmeric with her invisalign on and walked around Paris smiling at people with seemingly BRIGHT YELLOW TEETH.”
“I would save those for fancy special occasions! WOW!”
“Every time I'd stop I'd turn slowly and stare at the person in the car next to me.”
“Keep them. Tell people what to do. They’ll do your bidding.”
In a follow-up Instagram video, Wargola showed her followers that she was safe at home with normal eyes, showing that the damaged contact lenses were so stained that they turned the saline solution in her contacts case into a bright Gatorade yellow. She wasn't mad at the nurse and, in fact, plans on keeping the lenses to wear on St. Patrick's Day or some other special occasion.
While no harm was done and a good laugh was had, it's still best for doctors, nurses, and patients alike to double-check and ask or tell if contact lenses are being worn before each eye test. If not, there might be more than ultra-green eyes to worry about.