Marathon Madness

Why?

It’s what we ask after any act of senseless violence. It’s what we ask after any tragedy that we can’t explain or rationalize.

Sometimes there aren’t any answers. And we have to live with that.

The Boston Marathon was rocked by a pair of explosions near the finish line yesterday as some of the more than 27,000 runners were finishing the race. Three people, including an eight year-old boy, were killed in the blasts and hundreds were injured, many seriously.

The blasts occurred about ten seconds apart in a crowded viewing area in the city’s downtown Copley Square, turning a scene of jubilation into one of chaos, blood and screams.

The bombs were crudely made, but unspeakably deadly, making this horror a terrorist attack, without question. But whether this is another 9-11 event – God forbid – or a homegrown act of terrorism, no one knows at this point.

We do know that first responders sprung into action very quickly and should be commended for their heroism. We do know that at an event such as this – an outdoor, free public event watched by more than half a million people – it is not possible to prevent every nutbar with a crude bomb in his backpack from putting citizens in peril.

It is the price we pay for a free society.

The people of Boston, like the citizens of New York a dozen years ago, are resilient. One runner who had finished the race just before the explosions said he would not be scared off by terrorism.

"Whoever did this is trying to break people's spirits, but it's not going to happen," 33 year-old Arkady Hagopian told the Huffington Post, who added that is “definitely” running again next year.  "It only brings people closer."

Bostonians stepped up in other ways as well, as a tweet from the local Red Cross reveals: Due to the generosity of our donors we don't need blood at this time. Please schedule for a future donation http://redcrossblood.org  #marathon

I’ll leave the end of this blog by quoting my friend Don, who posted this status on Facebook:

There are bad people out there. But seeing how the city has responded and reacted tells me there's WAY more good people out there than bad people. We out-number them. And we always will. Bad doesn't win. In the history of mankind, it never has. It didn't win 1,000 years ago. It didn't win 100 years ago. And it won't today.

There's always going to be bad. But go to sleep knowing there's always going to be more good.

Amen to that.