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Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Again...


4 hours and 9 minutes into the race is when the Average Joe's are finishing up, is when the winners' interviews are over, is when the sidewalks are crowded with family and friends.  It wasn't surprising that the woman crossing the finish line was more absorbed in the buttons on her wristwatch than on the boom-cum-smoke behind her.

The pictures will soon be iconic -  the young father carrying an infant, cradling that little head in his hands, the runners crumpling to the ground as the concussive force of the blast met their within-sight-of-the-finish-line-exhausted bodies, the brightly colored flags waving in the white smoke.  There will be stories of heroism and near misses; I'm so glad you got off that rooftop, Miss Sarah. But that is in the future.  Right now, my head is about to explode.

TBG's voice held more outrage than did the reporter and eyewitness for the Boston Globe, who was giving his first hand account on CNBC. There was a curiously flat affect, an out of body sense, as if he were both there and looking at it from the outside. I know just how he feels.

This kind of thing couldn't possibly happen to you until it happens to you. The mind has to figure out what to do with the information.  It takes a while. 

I never heard about Patriot's Day before this afternoon.  The Red Sox play a Patriot's Day game every year; I hope they are checking Fenway Park.  Chris Matthews is reminding us that the bad guys target the happiest of times, the events that make America, America.  I know that's true; Christina-Taylor and I were participating in American democracy when the mayhem started.  

No one is claiming responsibility.... but it's on ESPN as well as on CNBC so somebody is missing a golden publicity opportunity.  There are so many ways that this can play out.  None of them are good.  

It's awful and I can't stop watching it. I'm blinking back tears and my heart is breaking. The words, the horrible words streaming below the equally terrible pictures, tell me that at least one leg has been amputated. The obvious cruelty is almost too much to bear.

Fox is telling me that there is a “person of interest” in custody while the Chief of Police tells me there is not.
Once again, the initial reports are far from accurate. I'm too aggravated to rant about the media's rush to be first, even at the expense of reality. Linking a fire at the JFK Library to the Marathon blasts was a good story, even if it wasn't true.

Little Cuter called before we could call her.  We spent some minutes reassuring one another that we were fine, that those we loved were fine, that we weren't PTSD-ing all over the place. I hate that we have to make these kinds of calls, but I'm so glad that we are here to do so.  

That's the kind of logic that arises from these twisted events.   

9 comments:

  1. I keep thinking of the people all over the world for whom such events are a regular part of their daily lives. While my heart hurts for those who were killed or maimed...or affected in ways which will follow them all the days of their lives....I can't help but be grateful that this sort of thing isn't common in our country....yet. Our home-grown terroristic shooters are doing enough damage to our psyche.

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    1. Damage to our psyche.... that's the phrase which eluded me as I wrote this. Thanks, Sharon.
      a/b

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  2. For some reason this doesn't feel international to me. It seems way too personal. I think it's a domestic terrorist. It's just a hunch, but someone is majorly pissed off and they wanted to prove a point--especially on this day and with children out of school. I didn't even know they had a Patriot's Day in Mass. The whole thing is so utterly sad and the pictures are horrific.

    I'm still in shock.

    Sending hugs,


    Megan xxx

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    1. Patriot's Day was new to me, too, Megan. I hear the same mantra through my head... "what a world... what a world".....
      ab

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  3. I had also never heard of Patriot's Day. It just is so frustrating that such things keep happening. What is wrong with humans keeps going through my heads? why does anybody want to kill children? I keep wishing i had some positive thought about it-- but I don't. It's just all tragic and it keeps happening. I did think of you with this because the pain has to be multiplied when you've been through such a thing and then it happens again to others. We are living in a culture of rage and it's worldwide. I don't know what it will take to stop it. :(

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  4. Patriot's Day starts with a re-enactment of the first skirmish between the British and the Americans in Lexington; segues into the start of an international race in Hopkinton, and ends with an American past-time - baseball, as well as the finish line of many people's dreams, to run the race of their lives. I live outside of Boston, and have lots of friends and family with peripheral connections to the marathon. College students volunteer to work the event; it's an annual ritual for many families to go watch the race somewhere along the 26+ mile route; many small businesses close up shop for the day because the boss is a runner and always goes to the race.

    I hate that I had to get text messages from my kids saying they were ok. I hate that they had to send those messages. They are sad, and worried about friends who were working at the medical tent, and I hate that they have to feel this way. I hate that their college was on lock-down for the rest of the day. But I am so, so glad they are safe.

    So, so glad.

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    1. The ripple effects are incredible; we are still feeling them in Tucson 20+ months later. So very glad your family and friends are safe......
      a/b

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  5. All these people involved in something awful when they were just trying to have some fun. It skews your perspective on so many things... that's the meta-story our events, I think.
    a/b

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  6. a/B,I personally participated in many a Patriot's Day event. The re-enactor's turn out in droves to participate in the Concord and Lexington battle (my backyard!) The Marathon snakes through the suburbs and ends up in the city; and the Red Sox officially open Fenway to the spring sunshine. Many of us always had the day off and reveled in the activities; the people from around the world running, the sports, the food, America's past time. The city at it's best; and the day was our pride and joy. It was always one my my very favorite (albeit parochial) holidays. I pray it returns to it's full glory when the catch the bastards who did this.

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