From my hotel in Los Angeles today, I saw a crowd gather in front of the lobby televisions as I entered to access wifi to catch up on work emails.
From that spot, the newsmen told us that two had perished and many more injured at the Boston Marathon.
My brain tries to wrap itself around the images on the screen. The world slows down, the emails unimportant.
Flash forward hours later. One more has died. One of the dead includes an eight-year-old.
All my head keeps repeating is: My son turns eight this Friday, April
My son, who will be eight on Friday. Someone is missing their eight year-old right now. I wish I could wrap my arms around them.
twenty-fourth. Please God help that family. God. No. No. No.
Meanwhile, shrapnel was being pulled from the limbs that remain of top athletes and those standing on the sidelines to cheer them on.
Somewhere, a coward (and potentially cowardly friends) likely smiled in accomplishment.
Yet, I won’t focus on the the cowards.
As my friend Paul said in his Facebook post today after a dinner with friends devoid of conversation about the events: “Sometimes you just need to remember what’s important so the bad guys don’t win.” Thank you, Paul for gifting us with perspective.
NBC tells me that more children have been injured, including a two year-old. President Obama reassures us that the terrorists will be found. (I prefer to call them Cowardists, as they targeted a race knowing small children and innocents would be in the vicinity. There is not one ounce of bravery in that.)
Yet, as I talk to friends and strangers–like the one who touched my arm as I rode up on the escalator telling her about the attack, goosebumps pricking each hair on my arms–we are united.
Bostonians by the thousands opened up their homes to marathoners offering support.
Friends, strangers and celebrities offered kindness and caring via the web.
Heroism thankfully runs rampant.
For every small group of evil people in this world there are a thousand times that number who care, who wish goodwill, who will run back after finishing the marathon to stop the bleeding.
We’re Americans. We’ll never let the bad guys win.
The fact that so many runners in the Boston marathon kept running after the marathon to the hospital to donate blood, touches my heart.
— Olivia Duran (@oliviacduran) April 15, 2013
