Wednesday, April 17, 2013

Thoughts on the Boston Marathon Horror

I am absolutely sickened by the grisly photo that has by now become the iconic image of the Boston Marathon: a man who had his legs blown off to the point where one could only see jagged bones. Yet I am heartened by the story of the unidentified man in the cowboy hat who came to his aid and is credited with saving his life. I am also heartsick about the parents, who recognized their son in the grisly photo. I feel sick that an innocent 8-year-old child had reportedly died, and by the news of the latest developments, each new revelation serving to make this horror more horrific.

But what is going on in our nation? Angelic children killed in a school shooting? People gathered together enjoying a marathon event who get their legs blown off by bombs intended to main and hurt? Where is all this evil and hate and harming of innocent people coming from?

No place is safe anymore.

And we do not summon sufficient outrage to address the underlying causes -- at Sandy Hook Elementary School, for example, by responding with divisiveness and not by repealing the Second Amendment, banning guns,  and finally championing public safety. 

As for the Boston tragedy, we have yet to learn the underlying causes.... As more and more details unfold, I am overwhelmed with helplessness as I think about the trauma of the innocent victims. And whatever the cause is, we will finally need to join together as a society and address it...

I then begin think of the death of the innocent people who died at an Aurora, Colorado, movie theatre shooting. I think of former Congresswoman Gabby Giffords and her long and brave rehabilitation. The list is endless...

I am just overwhelmed and heartsick. And then my thoughts go back to the trauma of 9/11 that still lingers here, and with each of these events, reverberates again in this City.

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