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My mom is running the Eugene marathon tomorrow, and I'm going with her because afterward she's going to take me to the fancy weird running store where they video your feet running to find the right shoes for you. Also because I feel compelled to be visibly supportive of running after Boston. I'm going to actually hang around and watch the race, instead of reading or sleeping in the car like I usually do at these things. But I'm also planning to get a vegan waffle from the fancy weird waffle place. (Eugene is a pretty fancy weird town, you know?)

#boring #boston explosions #Eugene #running

Reflections on the Marathon Bombing

A week ago today, life changed in a way that I never expected. In a heartbeat.

For me and my fellow Bostonians, this has been maybe the longest, most intense seven days that we will ever live through. It was a roller coaster that wouldn’t end. Every time I thought we were running down that last bit of straight track to the end, someone built in another curve. I still don't know where to begin processing everything. It's like I was living in "sim city" and some maniac was at the controls.

Monday was tragic. The Boston Marathon Bombings shocked us all, shook us to our souls. For those at the finish line, for people like me who were farther out on the race route, for the runners, for the families of everyone involved.... for everyone that had friends in the city and spent hours trying to get through to them to be sure their loved ones were safe... It was the most difficult day most of us have ever had... With the exception of 9/11.

At this point, I've experienced the whole range of emotions about it. I've been in disbelief, I've been angry, I've been sad... How someone can plan and carry out something so heinous is beyond me. I am still - we all are - groping for understanding. It is just beyond my comprehension.

Tuesday and Wednesday we were strong. Boston went back to work and carried on, as we always do. Anyone who knows anything about Boston knows that we are one tough town. On top of our own resolve to continue fighting the good fight, we experienced an outpouring of love and support like no other. While we may still have been standing, this love and support gave us wings to rise above.

And rise we did. Personally, I participated in a human chain that drove the Westborough Baptist Church away from the memorial service on Thursday. We stood, four deep, all around the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and protected those directly affected by the bombings. Thousands of people turned out to provide a safe, secure environment for these people to mourn in. It was the most uplifiting, beautiful thing I think I've ever participated in. The showing of humanity, solidarity, love, was just... incredible. I left southie with wings, flying high on more love than I've ever seen in my life.

But of course, there was another curve on this track.

After the human chain, I went to work. I was cut off from news, cellphones, civilization beyond my kitchen for 8ish hours. At some point I found out that my buddy won tickets to a Sox game next week. I was still flying pretty high when I walked out the doors at 11:30pm. I went down to the local pub, where we were having a little bit of a send-off for another employee. On the TV was the news. And the world came crashing back down to the ground as I read the caption that an MIT police officer was dead, and two guys were tearing up Cambridge (if you don't know, Cambridge is just adjacent to Boston proper... most of us consider them one in the same). What a buzzkill.

Somehow, we still managed to have some laughs and when I walked home and crawled into bed, I managed to feel alright about life. Like things were going to look up in the morning. Flat track again.

Curve in the morning; I awoke to find that they were still searching for one of the perpetrators, that these two guys were the Marathon Bombers, that basically my whole city is in lock down, that I don't know how I will get to and from work (if we even open), and that the insanity is spreading farther from the city; suspect packages on my alma-mater's campus, on bridges, banks being held up the next town over, crime scenes 20 miles long and no trains running. Maybe not so much of a curve as a loop-da-loop. My stomach is starting to turn. My brain is starting to shut down. Things are starting to go dark. G-force blackout imminent.

I couldn’t get to work, so I spent Friday much like everyone else, glued alternately to the radio and the TV, following the manhunt for the Bomber, waiting for the moment when my friends in lockdown zones would finally be safe. Friday evening they finally caught the sick bastard, and you better believe that I clapped and cheered and cried. The relief was so extreme that I was immediately exhausted. I hunkered down with a movie and zoned out for the night. For the first time in days I was able to relax, not think for a little while, not worry.

It’s been a couple of days now, and I keep trying to make sense of it all, I keep trying to get some perspective. I just can’t wrap my brain around it. I am so glad that they took this guy in alive, so that maybe, just maybe, we will get some kind of reason out of him as to why he and his brother decided to kill innocent people.

All I can seem to feel is bewilderment that it actually happened, mingled with pride in my city. I remain utterly confused and probably will be for a long time still. I will never understand how someone can do something like this, even if the guy does give some kind of reason.

I am proud though. Really, really, really proud. Not just of the fact that we managed to catch the guy in 5 days (that must be some kind of record for terrorist apprehension), but of the fact that Boston refused to be broken. The night that they caught the surviving suspect, people went in droves to Boston Common to celebrate, to be together, to show the world what we are made of. As if we had not shown enough strength over the previous several days, we made sure to drive it home that night. There truly is no city in the world like Boston. And I am privileged to call it home.

There are so many questions about this whole thing, so much that I don’t know. Here is what I do know though; we cannot break. We cannot let the insanity win. We cannot give in. Boston must become the model for the nation. Strong, united, a force to be reckoned with.

Terrorism, by definition, is

The systematic use of terror, often violent, especially as a means of coercion. Common definitions of terrorism refer only to those violent acts which are intended to create fear (terror); are perpetrated for a religious, political or, ideological goal; and deliberately target or disregard the safety of non-combatants (civilians).

Boston refused to be ‘terrorized’ by these two radicals. We were not coerced, we refused to be torn apart, we while we may have been afraid, we were still brave. We must, as a nation, take a cue from this week and remain united. It is time to stop tearing ourselves apart from the inside. Enough people are trying to tear us down from the outside; we must remain strong, remain united, build our strength around a solid core.

I am not naïve enough to think that we will stop playing political games, that there will cease to be multiple different political parties, that everyone will magically begin to subscribe to the same opinion. I mean really, that is the foundation of our country – that we have the right to think differently. I just hope that this will teach us to sit down and have reasonable conversations about the issues, instead of the mudslinging that has become so popular of late. We need to stop the yelling and start talking. Who knows, maybe we can learn to compromise, to work together instead of working constantly against each other.

One last thing; I would like to extend my condolences to the families who had their loved ones ripped from them in this series of events. My heart is with you. I would also like to thank all of the first responders, police, federal agents and officers, and military personnel from all over New England (all over the country, really) to bring Boston back to normal and bring these terrorists to justice. Thank you also to all of the civillians from all over the country that showed their support in newspapers, online, on their TV shows, at the human chain, by giving to the One Fund, and the million other ways that you helped Boston stay strong. Your support is appreciated so very much. Also thank you to Anonymous, for hacking Lord and Taylor’s security system and sifting through that footage. I don’t know where this investigation would be if you hadn’t.

Boston Strong. Boston Pride.

I love that dirty water baby, Boston will always be my home.

On a more personal note (and I promise this is it since this has become a novel…), I have gained, out of this whole situation, a renewed appreciation for the simple things; a hug, a kiss, snuggling up and watching TV, the shining sun, the people in my life, going to work every day, my family...even dog slobber. I’ve actually become a more relaxed and happy person. Strange how such a tragedy can bring so much positivity to your life.

“Pain throws your heart to the ground, love turns the whole thing around, no it won’t all go the way it should, but I know the heart of life is good.”

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