Tuesday, April 16, 2013

cowards

I’ve had a love-hate relationship with Boston (Beantown to natives) for a while. My parents grew up about 10 miles from the city in Lynn, Mass. and for them; it was the acme of all that was civilized.


The city is also called the “Hub” by locals, but no one else. Hub is for the phrase “Hub of the Universe,” by the way.

So a city with that much pride and pretension is easy to dislike. There are a lot of great things about Boston, and I love them all. But pretense is not one of them.

Yesterday changed some of that. Some idiot or deranged group decided to set off a pair of bombs at the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Why?

Why did you decide to kill people who were doing nothing more than enjoying a sporting event? Who were cheering on relatives and friends? Or who were applauding those who were not running for laurels, but just to complete the 26.2 mile course? One of your victims, an eight-year-old boy, was at the finish line to cheer on his father. He died. The boy’s mother and another relative are hospitalized. Two others are dead, and more than 100 people are injured.

What did these people do to you? Anything?


By the way, one of the reasons the death count is so “low” is because you picked on the wrong city. While there are fantastic doctors and hospitals the world over, Boston has a concentration of some of the best. And there was a medical tent for injured marathoners nearby so those who you hurt could get care at once. No, it was not a fully-stocked ED, but I am sure it helped

If you thought you were attacking the United States, look at the pictures again. There were flags from dozens of countries there; representing the countries the runners were from. All were welcome at the race. All were competing in a friendly manner.

Why haven’t you claimed “credit?” I would think someone big and brave and as bad as you are would want the world to know who is responsible for bringing a great city to a standstill. What’s the matter? Willing to make “war” on innocent spectators and runners but too scared to let yourself be known?

There is one word for you: coward.