Over the course of the past few days, Boston, Massachusetts has been inundated with back to back, seemingly non-stop tragic news. Despite my speckled humorous tweets, and various social media statements, it's not gone unnoticed by me. I was born here, and now I'm currently living back in this great city with my own family (which includes two beautiful children). Although, I reside in a bucolic suburb of Boston, the city itself still remains a part of my everyday. Trips with the family to museums in town, maintaining connection with friends and family members in the surrounding immediate suburbs, driving my husband to the airport for business and picking up visitors from afar - these all contribute to my daily life experience, even living in the suburbs. Boston is a part of my every day life here.
The Boston Marathon tragedy and following (and still unfolding) events have changed our memories of Boston, as we know it, forever. The echoed heartbroken sentiment seems to be clear: "We just never expected anything like this to happen here." Things here are surreal, and shock value is at an all time high. Today, as the majority of Boston is hunkering down in their homes and businesses, the streets are (and I quote from a news report) "almost post apocalyptic". Just hours ago, what were once bustling and thriving streets, are now barren. It's like a ghost town. Residents are wanting to get out, fists up, fighting in any way they can for their city and for their freedom, but are held under lock down as authorities are combing the streets on a manhunt for what has been labeled a "terrorist". We could never have possibly imagined what these last five days would have manifested into our reality. News broadcasts in cycles of the same information (with pockets of slightly new data waiting to be confirmed), people sitting on the edge of their chairs in front of their televisions... as we wait to hear whether the party responsible for killing and injuring so many in our hometown has been captured. It's a stressful, unknowing, and horrible state of emotional imbalance as we all strive to maintain some sense of normalcy outside of the true horror going on around us.
That being said, as a mother to children too young to be aware of these events, I feel that the most important lesson in all of this is to try to find a balance, and most importantly, keep living your life to the best of your ability. Tragedy is a part of our human existence. These events have been horrific, and not one person you meet (including me) would argue otherwise. But, how does one possibly create balance in such an imbalanced state of affairs? From my perspective, which admittedly is one that luckily hasn't been touched personally by these tragedies... well, this is my personal feeling....
Self-educate but don't over saturate your mind, keep abreast of the details but don't be afraid to steal away moments to build a fort with your kids, be quiet when updates unfold but laugh even louder at a joke just forwarded, pray for victims but then dance at that fun song with your friend. If I am unable to do this, in my mind, they have won. I'm an American, and I am free. Horror, tragedy, terrible unspoken things, they are all around us... but resilience, resilience is there too. It's there to pick us up from the ground, dust us off, band us together in the face of terror, uniting us in a way that perhaps wasn't attainable before such an event. Terrorists you have NOT won. You have succeeded in making Boston EVEN STRONGER. We will PREVAIL. WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS. We WILL NOT lie down and accept this. You have merely put a scar on our hearts, but NEVER on our spirits.
From the mouth of this one strong and proud Boston girl, WATCH OUT TERRORISTS. You just increased the "neighborhood watch" by millions. We will find you, you will pay for your crimes, and you will one day feel the weight of all the victims pain and the lives that you prematurely stole. Karma is a bitch, and our Boston is a city of fighters. So put your boxing gloves on, it's going to get Patriotic up in here.
The Boston Marathon tragedy and following (and still unfolding) events have changed our memories of Boston, as we know it, forever. The echoed heartbroken sentiment seems to be clear: "We just never expected anything like this to happen here." Things here are surreal, and shock value is at an all time high. Today, as the majority of Boston is hunkering down in their homes and businesses, the streets are (and I quote from a news report) "almost post apocalyptic". Just hours ago, what were once bustling and thriving streets, are now barren. It's like a ghost town. Residents are wanting to get out, fists up, fighting in any way they can for their city and for their freedom, but are held under lock down as authorities are combing the streets on a manhunt for what has been labeled a "terrorist". We could never have possibly imagined what these last five days would have manifested into our reality. News broadcasts in cycles of the same information (with pockets of slightly new data waiting to be confirmed), people sitting on the edge of their chairs in front of their televisions... as we wait to hear whether the party responsible for killing and injuring so many in our hometown has been captured. It's a stressful, unknowing, and horrible state of emotional imbalance as we all strive to maintain some sense of normalcy outside of the true horror going on around us.
That being said, as a mother to children too young to be aware of these events, I feel that the most important lesson in all of this is to try to find a balance, and most importantly, keep living your life to the best of your ability. Tragedy is a part of our human existence. These events have been horrific, and not one person you meet (including me) would argue otherwise. But, how does one possibly create balance in such an imbalanced state of affairs? From my perspective, which admittedly is one that luckily hasn't been touched personally by these tragedies... well, this is my personal feeling....
Self-educate but don't over saturate your mind, keep abreast of the details but don't be afraid to steal away moments to build a fort with your kids, be quiet when updates unfold but laugh even louder at a joke just forwarded, pray for victims but then dance at that fun song with your friend. If I am unable to do this, in my mind, they have won. I'm an American, and I am free. Horror, tragedy, terrible unspoken things, they are all around us... but resilience, resilience is there too. It's there to pick us up from the ground, dust us off, band us together in the face of terror, uniting us in a way that perhaps wasn't attainable before such an event. Terrorists you have NOT won. You have succeeded in making Boston EVEN STRONGER. We will PREVAIL. WE WILL FIGHT FOR OUR FREEDOMS. We WILL NOT lie down and accept this. You have merely put a scar on our hearts, but NEVER on our spirits.
From the mouth of this one strong and proud Boston girl, WATCH OUT TERRORISTS. You just increased the "neighborhood watch" by millions. We will find you, you will pay for your crimes, and you will one day feel the weight of all the victims pain and the lives that you prematurely stole. Karma is a bitch, and our Boston is a city of fighters. So put your boxing gloves on, it's going to get Patriotic up in here.