Bethany Joy Lenz Writes Emotional Essay in the Wake of Nice Attack

Bethany Joy Lenz wrote an emotional essay following the terrible attack in Nice, France, where at least 84 lives, including 10 children, were lost after a truck drove through the crowd of 30,000 celebrating Bastille Day on Thursday night. As many other celebs, including Kristen Bell, the One Tree Hill star too felt the need to address the public on the recent wave of violent attacks that claimed so many innocent lives. 

The essay, posted on BJL's blog, starts, "I’m having a hard time writing about makeup.  Or fashion.  Or luxury travel.  Especially that.  Because that gorgeous 5 star hotel on the beach (or in the middle of the city) is the perfect way to spend your vacation unless someone gets into a semi loaded with automatic weapons and drives into a crowd enjoying the evening fireworks display.  The hottest new nightclub is the perfect place to unwind and blow off some steam after work unless someone walks in with a machine gun and open fires on the dancing crowd.  That recipe I told you about is the perfect thing to cook for your visiting family and friends, unless you’re on your way the the grocery store and you’re black and someone in a uniform is a afraid of you so they shoot you.  Because you’re black and trying to get groceries.  Those in-season pleats and florals are the perfect look to wear to that concert, unless someone walks into the show strapped with a bomb and blows up half the crowd. WHAT are we DOING?" 

The star goes on to praise the social networks for allowing people to mass spread important messages meant to raise awareness on global critical issues like educating young girls or tolerance, but she admits that there's only so much we can do when it comes to "educating young recruit-targets for terrorism." In the end, she says, if everything else fails, we can still pray.

"If it’s literally the least you can do- Pray" she writes. "If it’s the most you can do- Pray.  Pray constantly.  Live and love and be grateful and have joy and don’t live in fear and anguish, but be aware all the time and acknowledge that awareness by asking for help- by praying.  Even if you don’t believe in God… on the off chance you’re wrong, and for the sake of doing something… can you just do it anyway? We’re in dire straights on planet earth right now.  It may be the only real thing we can do."

You can find the entire essay here. 

Bethany Joy Lenz Invites Everyone to a Special 'One Tree Hill' Convention

You laughed, cried, suffered, empathized, got angry and afraid alongside the characters of One Tree Hill during the ten-year run of the famous TV series, and then cried again when they all found their happy endings and the show came to an end. But if you're up for another massive round of tears you'll be happy to know that the cast is reuniting. No, not for a show relaunch, but for a special OTH convention. 

Bethany Joy Lenz, who played the always responsible Haley on the hit series, announced the good news on her Instagram page. Apparently, it's not going to be a big thing, as in, it'll be a cozy, intimate, classy gathering, but it will be huge for fans of the show since they'll have the chance to meet the cast, visit the sets, see props and scripts and even have dinner with their favorite idols. 

"NEXT WEEKEND in Wilmington, NC," Joy Lenz captioned the photo. "Meet us out there for a very different kind of "convention". This will be an intimate, incredibly classy, well-tended-to event put together by the only woman I know who legitimately knows how to put together a dinner party the old fashioned way. Beth Crookham worked on #OneTreeHill for almost the full 10 years. She was our wrangler of sorts. The woman you went to to figure something out, to get connected with the right person, to find the impossible dinner reservation, and especially to find a shoulder to cry on. She's a great friend to all of us and we are so excited to support (and attend) this event. GET YOUR TICKETS by visiting >>> @inside_oth <<<click there. You'll get to see #OTH props, sets, costumes, scripts, etc... You can even get a ticket to have dinner with the cast ON THE SCREEN GEMS LOT where we basically lived for 10 years. You won't regret joining us for this weekend event July 22,23!!"

But wait, there's more. If you're a fan of her music as well, here's the cherry on the OTH cupcake. Joy Lenz will also perform before the event, so all the more reason not to miss it. 

"And if you get in early, I'm doing a concert Friday the 21st! #insideoth #Naley #hilarieburton @ptothejohan #danscott" she further announced.