I had a different blog topic planned for today. I wish I could be writing about printers, mail-merging and office software instead of the tragedy that occurred in Boston yesterday. But I can't brush this aside.
I am not a runner. I will never be a runner. I am acquaintances with a handful of people that are enthusiastic runners and thoroughly enjoy this sport. If I had a family member that was involved in this sport I would support them and be out at their races cheering them on. What happened yesterday can happen anywhere.
It's disappointing that our world is becoming a place to be more and more fearful of.
A friend of Martin's mother shared a photo on Facebook of the 8 year old boy who was killed while waiting for his father at the finish line yesterday. The caption of the photo read:
"This is Martin, 8. He died in the Boston bombing yesterday. He was at the finish line with his family, waiting for his dad to cross. His mother and little sister were catastrophically injured. He was the student of our dear friend, Rachel Moo. His message resonates powerfully today. My prayer is that we all live by Martin's words, paying tribute to his too-brief, but immeasurably valuable life by following his example. "
This child was at a marathon supporting his father. It was supposed to be a happy moment, and instead this boy lost his life, along with two others, 17 others in critical condition, and 176 casualties.
(See this ABC News Report for more information.)
Before I started typing out this blog, I did not know that "Richard’s mother, Denise, suffered a brain injury in the blast, and his 6-year-old sister reportedly lost a leg. William Richard, the father, told a local official that his daughter would have died if not for the heroic efforts of first-responders."
I'm distraught by the violence that is becoming all too common in our world.
Senseless acts of violence.
This is an interview of the Richards family's neighbor.
Please see more on this story here.
This is a short blog post from a mother who is a runner.
Please read Running Strong.
A friend I graduated high school with posted this on his Facebook Timeline:
"Kind of an eye-opener...scroll down to the link for recent years and look at how Boston's tragedy yesterday is an almost daily occurrence in some parts of the world. Innocent citizens...children...mowed down by terrorist groups and unstable people. Nearly. Every. Single. Day.
Look at images of these other attacks. The only differences are skin color and clothing. The pain, disbelief and loss are just the same. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_terrorist_incidents "
I agree with him in that there are many other atrocious instances happening in our world.
I don't like that any of these senseless acts of violence occurs anywhere. I feel for any human being that has to live in fear. I want world peace as much as the next person.. How do we do this? It's been
'the' question for countless generations. How? I believe it must begin with one person at a time and within that, we as United States citizens, should be able to live as an example to others. The U.S.A. is obviously not getting better with all of the tragedies of the past decade. I do not need to list them all, but just to name a few: 9/11, Columbine and most recently the Newtown, CT murders.
Here is an article interviewing a man who ran the Boston Marathon yesterday who is from Newtown, CT.
"“It’s very sad. This is one of the most popular marathons in the world and now they’re talking on the news here about whether they will have it again next year,” he told Patch. "This has been ongoing for 117 years, and they are wondering whether this will put an end to it."
Back to my high school friend's post. He's getting some slack on it from one of his friends. Basically the friend is saying that human nature is that we feel more connected to a tragedy that happens closer to home, than one that say happens overseas. That does not make it less of a tragedy, but due to proximity you'd feel more loss, sadness, and disbelief for the the incident that is closer to home. Also, the news spotlights more local and regional incidents than it does worldwide. That's not to say that you can't watch a world news report, but you know as well as I do that they don't cover everything that is going on. Media outlets 'choose' a lot of what they're going to report on.
Feel free to comment on this post below with your thoughts on this topic, as it is a lengthy one.
I'd like to leave you today with a few good thoughts:
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