16 April 2013

Boston

I've gone back and forth with myself as to whether or no I should post the following--a lot of is feels like a bunch of incoherent rambling and to be honest, it feels a bit strange to be writing about something so far away and disconnected with.

Like a lot of people, I've had Boston on my mind all day, trying to make sense of a senseless act. While I don't know anyone directly involved in what happened, my heart still aches for the city and those effected in yesterdays events.

The Boston Marathon has always been this weird, intangible running goal. I know you aren't supposed to say "never", but its one of those things I know I will most likely never participate in but still something I have on my bucket list. The best I could ever hope for is to be there to watch as people run across the finish line.

I've followed the marathon from afar the last few years and had just sat down to do so yesterday when the first bomb exploded. I wanted desperately for it to be an accident--for it to be a mistake, but then the second bomb exploded and I knew it wasn't. As I watched the news reports come in it was hard to not be overwhelmed by the images of those wounded. But what struck me most were the images of those running towards the explosion area to help those who had been injured. In a time of chaos and destruction, compassion and strength came through.

It's been in the media a lot, but the post Patton Oswald but on his Facebook page yesterday said it perfectly:

Boston. Fucking horrible. 

I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, "Well, I've had it with humanity."

But I was wrong. I don't know what's going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths. 

But here's what I DO know. If it's one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness. 

But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago. 

So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, "The good outnumber you, and we always will."


No matter how traumatic or tragic or senseless an act is, the good will always overcome the bad, even if it seems to take twice as long.

Today I wore Boston Marathon colors to work today in honor of the victims of yesterdays tragedy. And when my doctor gives me the all-clear, I'll sign myself up for a race (or two maybe!) to run for Boston. It seems like a small thing, but the quote below puts in perspective (at least for me it does) what running can really be about--not just about an individual runner, but a whole community of runners.


"It's the only sport in the world where if a competitor falls, the others around will pick him or her up. It's the only sport in the world open to absolutely everyone, regardless of gender, age, ethnicity or any other division you can think of. It's the only occasion when thousands of people assemble, often in a major city, for a reason that is totally peaceful, healthy and well-meaning. It's the only sport in the world where no one ever boos anybody."--Runners World on the sport of running.

4 comments:

  1. I didn't know if I should post about this event either - but I'm glad I did, and I'm glad you did too!

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  2. I love the words you wrote, and the quotes you found. Running truly is a great sport, and even tho I suffer through it a lot of the times, this event made me even prouder to be a runner.

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  3. I'm glad you posted this. The more support we see from around the world, the better. Thanks for linking up with the Coffee Talk Blog Hop!

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Thanks for reading!

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