For Boston

Yesterday was yet another terrible day of checking news updates and trying to comprehend a tragedy. Senseless acts of terror are so hard to comprehend, because we will never comprehend how someone could do what they did.

I love Boston. It was my home for a summer, and my sister's home for much longer. She was so angry yesterday. The Boston Marathon is a holiday in that city, Patriot's Day, and she has so many good memories of watching the race and loving the event. I sat up last night just thinking about everything that happened, wondering how anyone could do something so awful. My heart broke for the runners, the supportive crowd, the families of victims. The last mile of the race was dedicated to the families from Newtown, CT that lost loved ones in the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting. Many of them were seated in the VIP area, near the explosions. Why did any of that have to happen? Why did they have to witness that?

I told Michael that I hate how tragedies can take away so much from what we have. They take away our safe spaces - airplanes, movie theaters, elementary schools, marathons. These horrific acts ruin so much in one day, then so much forever. It is easy to get lost in the evil of it all, and lose hope of there being any good in society anymore. So easy. But it's so, so important that we don't.

This was posted by multiple friends yesterday:

Image from here

I love this perspective from Mr. Rogers. From his mother. It is so true, and so important. These tragedies we have to witness, they are caused by evil people - sometimes one, sometimes many. But when you watch coverage of the events or hear the stories, there are always miraculous stories of these "helpers". They are everywhere, and they lose any concern for themselves in those moments and do anything they can to help.

I heard on the radio that some people finished the race and kept running. They ran to hospitals and donated blood. In Connecticut, teachers sheltered their children without any concern for their personal safety. The school received more cards and gifts than they knew what to do with in the coming days. Men laid down their lives for their loved ones in Aurora.

Of course these things don't erase all the pain. They don't make any of it ok. But they are powerful. They remind us that there is more good in the world than bad. The bad can be so, so bad. One person's decisions can change so much, inflict so much pain. But the opposite is happening, every day. People truly do change other people's lives for good. People stop tragedies from happening, and we hardly hear about them. People take care of people. People love each other. There is a lot of hate in this world, if you look for it, or if it finds you. But I believe there is more love. More good. More of us trying to do our best.

I wore these sweatpants with heart last night. I said prayers for everyone affected by the day - from victims and witnesses, to people at home who are just so tired of terrible, tragic news. We all need prayers.

Here's to Boston. A wonderful city that should have never experienced what it did. People will work tirelessly to make things right there, as much as can be done, and they will work to find who did this. Because Boston is strong, people are good, and what happened is not ok. They will fight to show that this is not ok, and find who is responsible. 

Boston is not alone right now. All our hearts are there.

///Update: A great article about how we're geared to be helpers.