A Marathon of Emotions

Yesterday was Patriots' Day in Massachusetts. It is an observance of the battles of Lexington and Concord and the Patriotic Spirit that is embodied by the people and places of the State of Massachusetts. It is observed on the third Monday of every April, and it is a school holiday, Marathon Monday, and overall a huge celebration in the city of Boston. It is a day when the spirit of Bostonians and New Englanders comes alive with camaraderie and joviality.

And yesterday this spirit was attacked.

I was at work when it happened. I was inside a loud Pub listening to drunk people and crappy music, stepping all over the new bussers, colliding with Hostesses and servers and cleaning up after everyone and their mothers. Yet I was able to watch the shift in attitude as the news began to pour in. The TVs in the Pub were all broadcasting the Red Sox game and the Marathon, so when the bombs went off at the finish line, everyone saw it. I think some on the patio might have even heard it.

At first they didn't know what it was. The band got back on stage and made an announcement that there was an explosion and that they thought it might have been a sewer pipe that caught a spark and burst. They urged the patrons to keep calm and enjoy the music. But we soon found out that it wasn't the sewers. When the doctors started pulling ball bearings out of people, it was clear that this was a planned and coordinated attack. The type of explosives used were deemed by police as amateur and unsophisticated, the equivalent of a shrapnel propelling pipe bomb. The simplicity of such a device makes it unlikely that this was a foreign attack by a major terrorist cell, but a domestic attack by someone who knew Boston well.

I am unwilling to make my speculations public, as I am not trained in investigative techniques, nor do I have all the evidence. However, I do know that yesterday I felt like a Bostonian. I felt that this city I love and have come to call my home was finally accepting of me. When Barack Obama made his statement in support of our city I felt that he was speaking for us, not them. When he called Boston a tough and resilient city, I felt tough and resilient. I was disgusted by the people who were making jokes of the bombings before the smoke had even cleared. I was more disgusted by the kitchen staff worker who was laughing at the marathon runners knocked down by the explosions. When I stopped to think about the events of yesterday, I realized that had I not been working, I would have been near either the Marathon explosions or the JFK bomb. The JFK Presidential Library and Museum is located on the same peninsula as my University, I often look at it while I study. Had I not been at work, I would likely have been either in my school's library writing a paper, or at a bar near the marathon finish line, watching my first Boston Marathon. But because it was a holiday, and I didn't have school, I requested the day to work. Requested. And work was the best place I could have been.

I thank God for watching over me and I pray that He watches over the families of those hurt and killed. I thank Him for my friends and family who care for me and care for my well being  And I pray for the people who did this because when the people of Boston find out who's responsible for this act, only God will be able to save them.