One Year into Boston Strong

“The stories are starting to emerge as these nameless heroes rushed to help horribly wounded victims.  This all happened with the imminent threat of additional explosions.  That is what I’ll take away from yesterday – the inspiration of those heroes who put the need to help strangers ahead of their own safety. That is why the bombers of the world will never win.  Instead of gaining notoriety, they expose the true decency of most people.  They provide the object lesson that most people are good.”

That’s what I wrote one year ago as the Boston Marathon bombings took place.  Again, I refuse to even acknowledge the existence of the miserably cretinous oxygen thieves who purveyed this senseless violence.  They are beneath our collective contempt. 

Krystle Marie Campbell

We should remember the three spectators killed in the bombings: Krystle Marie Campbell, 29, a restaurant manager from Medford; Lu Lingzi, 23, a Boston University graduate student from Shenyang, China; and Martin William Richard, an eight-year-old boy from Dorchester.  A few days later, Sean A. Collier, 27, an MIT police officer sacrificed his life during the idiot hunt.  Remember and honor the memory these four people and the hundreds of others who were wounded and refused to be cowed.  They are worthy of our consideration and respect.

Lu Lingzi

I still stand in awe of the region’s response to this tragedy.  This is the enduring legacy of the bombings, the response.  The fractious maelstrom of me-first politics within the People’s Republic of Taxachusetts was swarmed under by the true strength of the people and their communal worth. 

Martin William Richard

The people did not wallow in fear and terror as was hoped.  They forged a new chapter in what really defines this country – backbone.  I’ll remember the singing of the Star Spangled Banner at the Boston Garden the day after; a spontaneous expression of our will.  Messages of solidarity flew in from around the country and the world as that silent majority (a term ruined by Nixon) woke from peaceful slumber and demonstrated the power of a free people.  We were all Bostonians a year ago today.

Sean Collier

If it can happen here, in one of the most progressive (not a compliment in any way) of all these United States then the future bombers and terrorists should take note.  We, as a people, are an incredibly dangerous foe.  Arouse us at your own peril.