"Mommy! Are we at the doctor's appointment yet?" Emily asked.
"Shhhhh. I just heard something on the radio."
"But mommy!"
"I...."
"We have eyewitness confirmation that two bombs exploded at the Boston marathon....."
I listened to the reports over and over again, tears stinging my eyes as the horrific details came out of Boston. I thought back to the heart wrenching interview I had listened to just that morning of the Newtown Strong Fund running for the Sandy Hook Elementary school victims and how the Boston marathon had dedicated mile 26 to the victims and their families. Sobs erupted from my throat.
I didn't write anything after the Newtown shootings. My words felt inadequate. After this tragedy, my words still feel inadequate. But I am mourning for those who were injured, for those who lost their lives, for the families of the victims, for the loss of innocence and I write because I don't know what else to do.
I don't understand why these events happen or what events precipitated for a person or organization to feel justified in committing such a repulsive act. Yet, as I've listened to and read reports of how Bostonians have reached out to victims and displaced marathon racers, or how Newtown residents have created organizations (like the Strong Fund) to remember and support the victims, I feel hope. I believe President Obama said it best during his press conference this morning:
"We also know this — the American people refuse to be terrorized. Because what the world saw yesterday in the aftermath of the explosions were stories of heroism and kindness, and generosity and love: Exhausted runners who kept running to the nearest hospital to give blood, and those who stayed to tend to the wounded, some tearing off their own clothes to make tourniquets. The first responders who ran into the chaos to save lives. The men and women who are still treating the wounded at some of the best hospitals in the world, and the medical students who hurried to help, saying “When we heard, we all came in.” The priests who opened their churches and ministered to the hurt and the fearful. And the good people of Boston who opened their homes to the victims of this attack and those shaken by it.
So if you want to know who we are, what America is, how we respond to evil — that’s it. Selflessly. Compassionately. Unafraid."
(Read more: http://swampland.time.com/2013/04/16/president-obamas-speech-on-boston-marathon-bombings-full-text/#ixzz2QeB2NYvb)
May we all mourn for the victims of this and other horrific acts of violence.
No comments:
Post a Comment