In November, the Bataclan theater in Paris reopened one day before the one-year anniversary of the massacre that left 90 people dead during an Eagles of Death Metal concert.
"We have two tasks," Sting told a packed house that night. "To honor victims who lost their lives and to honormusic and life."
Sting on stage performing. Photo / Getty
Six months later, here we are again - honoring victims, vowing not to let terrorists win - as we come to terms with another concert attack, this time in Manchester, England, where 22 people were killed and dozens were injured after an Ariana Grande show Monday night.
Grande took to Twitter to apologize and say she was "broken"; she canceled the remainder of her tour. Meanwhile, musicians from Taylor Swift to Nicki Minaj to Rihanna sent prayers and love. "We need to do better," Justin Timberlake tweeted. "We need to LOVE ONE ANOTHER."
After the shock and support, recent history shows that we'll return to our usual routines - at least for those of us not directly touched by the violence.
Ariana Grande meets fans. Photo / Getty
Because, even though terrorists keep succeeding at creating very real tragedies for many families, they still haven't altered the way most of us live.
Despite bombs and mass shootings that target the places we go to unwind, movie lovers still head to the multiplex and music fans still go to concerts; runners compete in marathons, the faithful gather to pray and friends get together at clubs and cafes.
It's all part of the cycle now: Mourning gives way to resilience.
At the Sting concert that reopened the Bataclan, hundreds of survivors and relatives of victims showed up, and the 1,000 tickets for sale were snapped up in less than 30 minutes.
Medics evacuate an injured person close to the Bataclan theater, early on November 14, 2015 in Paris. Photo / Getty
A month after the attacks, ticket sales for Paris concerts were already rebounding. A couple of U2 shows that were supposed to take place just after the massacre were rescheduled for a month later.
Refunds for the sold out performances were "minimal," Live Nation's Arthur Fogel told Billboard at the time, and besides, the refunded tickets were immediately resold.
Recent mass shootings at movie theaters in the United States were not the work of ISIS, which claimed responsibility for the Manchester and Paris violence. But the objective was the same - to target innocent people where they go to let loose.
James Holmes killed 12 people and injured 70 at a screening of The Dark Knight rises at an Aurora, Colo. movie theater in 2012.
Accused movie theater shooter James Holmes makes his first court appearance at the Arapahoe County on July 23, 2012 in Centennial, Colorado. Photo / Getty
At the time, Warner Bros. quickly pivoted to show sensitivity to the victims and their families. The stars of the movie suspended press interviews and the studio took trailers for Gangster Squad - which featured a movie theater shooting - offline.
After John Russell Houser killed two and injured nine during a screening of Trainwreck in Lafayette, Louisiana, in 2015, the comedy's star Amy Schumer said she regretted ever writing the movie.
That would have deprived many people of laughs, however. Despite the shooting during opening weekend, the movie made more than $100 million.
The Dark Knight Rises, meanwhile was the second-highest grossing movie of 2012. It made $1 billion worldwide.
"Obviously, people are much more aware and careful when they attend these events, especially directly after it happens," said Jeff Bock, the senior box office analyst at Exhibitor Relations.
"But people are much more vigilant about their freedom, and I don't think people want to buy into terrorism keeping them at home because the age-old adage is, if you do that, then they win."
That echoes what Roxane Cohen Silver has seen in the extensive research she's done on how people react to attacks.
People hold candles during an evening memorial service for the victims of the Pulse Nightclub shootings. Photo / Getty
The University of California at Irvine professor has examined the effects of 9/11, the Boston Marathon bombing and Orlando's Pulse nightclub shooting, among other horrors.
There's often a strong urge, typically at the behest of community leaders, to show how resilient we can be, she said. That's how 'Boston Strong' became a slogan.
But Silver also points out there isn't just one way to react.
"There is variability in how people respond," she said. "There's no one monolithic response to these kinds of events and the individual responses depend on quite a number of factors."
One of those factors is repeated exposure to media-based images of violence, which we get thanks to the 24-hour news cycle and social media, and can be "a strong predictor of experiencing acute stress symptoms."
Of course, some of the things that reduce acute stress are running marathons, watching movies and seeing live music. We're still affected by the past, more likely to check where the closest exit is or consider what we'd do in an active-shooter situation. But that doesn't mean we stop going places.
It took a while, but even Paris tourism, which flagged following the horrific one-two punch of the attack on Charlie Hebdo's offices followed by the November 2015 violence, has rebounded, the New York Times reported last month.
Members of the public view candles and tributes left opposite the main entrance of Bataclan concert hall. Photo / Getty
In the end, maybe it was reason that prevailed. Even with increased coverage of terrorists, they're still much less likely to kill you than a heart attack.
"We probably think that it's not going to happen to us and that keeps us going," said Priscilla Dass-Brailsford, an associate professor of psychology at Georgetown University.
"Because to think otherwise would be very depressing."
