Born in Paris, France, Eliot Dota plays on the Cerritos College tennis team. Far from home, Dota feels nothing more than the urge to be in France with his family and friends in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Paris.
Attacks that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria [ISIS] has claimed responsibility for.
Dota said he was at tennis practice when he heard the news.
He said, “I watched [the news] on television and in the beginning I didn’t believe it.”
He then contacted his parents. They confirmed the news and he thought it was unreal.
Former Cerritos College tennis player Mathieu David was watching the France versus Germany friendly soccer match on TV when he heard the bombs go off.
He said, “My first thoughts were ‘is this serious?’ After, I thought war is beginning.”
Dota said, “All the guys [were] shocked by this.”
Dota’s initial thoughts were, “Why? Why do they do this?”
He has a family member that said she was on her way to the Bataclan concert hall where, according to the Los Angeles Times, gunmen killed 89 people.
“She said a family member is sick so I will not go to [the concert,]” Dota said. “[She was] so lucky.”
David’s sister was also in Paris at the time and had friends in the city. His family and friends went unharmed.
Dota calls everyday to keep in touch with relatives and friends to help ease his feeling of being far away.
After president Francois Hollande declared war on Syria, Dota felt like action was finally taking place, however , he condemns warfare and said he doesn’t want more bloodshed.
He said that when the attacks at the magazine Charlie Hebdo took place, he felt the government did not do enough.
“Many people in France need this to get the feeling of revenge,” he said.
“It’s a revenge for extremists to do this attack, it’s not because of nothing it’s a revenge,” Dota said.
Dota said he does admire how the attacks united the people of France.
However he feels that after three months the news will be old.
He finds it comforting to see people “standing” with France.
“I think it’s good of the world, I’m happy of this. This was horrible for France and when people write about this or it goes on TV it’s good for all the people of the world to know what happened,” He said.
