Marathon Nightmare

It was just another beautiful early spring day in Boston; perfect weather for baseball, marathons, and mom’s apple pie.  I had loosely planned on attending and reporting on the BAA Marathon last Monday, and I weighed the inconvenience of riding on the 'T,’ against the likelihood of not being able to get even close to the finish line, (which is of course where I would have tried to be) and just leaving it to the throngs of other reporters that would surely be there.  

To make a long story short, I opted not to go into the city, and as it turned out, I’m really glad I didn’t.  I got my fill of the unending news coverage that in the blink of an eye switched from one of the most anticipated and fun annual Boston rituals to one of the most hellish nightmares in Boston history.  

I was enjoying the day hanging out with my son and new grand-daughter when I first heard about it mere moments after it happened.  Being that my son is a State Trooper, he follows orders, and when something like this happens, all bets are off, and it’s all hands on deck; i.e., if you’re not on regular assignment and suddenly all hell breaks loose, whether you’re called or not, it becomes your assignment and you get down there!  So, faster than you could say Clark Kent, he was in uniform and on the way to the scene.

And that is exactly what this article is about today; all of the sons and daughters, husbands and wives, friends and neighbors that are LEO’s and first responders – while the vast majority of people run away from such scenes and the explosions, they run towards it.  They did it in 1993 when the World Trade Center was hit the first time, again when it was hit on 9/11, and countless times before and since.  These brave individuals put it all on the line every day to enter burning buildings, answer the calls to shootings and bombings, come to the aid of complete strangers, and generally do things that most of us would never even consider doing.

In the wake of this tragedy, there has been and will be more politicizing, finger pointing, and calls for heightened security.  In the end, there are no winners; only shattered homes, lives and dreams, and maybe further erosion of the Constitution.  

As I was collecting my thoughts on the whole ordeal, I noticed some of my new neighbors across the street doing something; quietly and without fanfare, they lowered the flag in front of their house out of respect to the fallen and everyone affected by this.  No one told them to, they just did it because it was the right thing to do.  In the days after, I was glad to see many others had done the same thing.

As the week progressed, we were all witness to a spree of carnage around the Boston area by two young men that included terrifying car chases and shoot outs, and ultimately claimed the lives of four hapless souls, and seriously wounded scores of others.  We heard from the Mayor, the Governor, the President, and many other officials.  Before the situation was over, the entire City of Boston was under lock down, the situation was rife with misinformation and changing stories, one of the two alleged perpetrators was killed, and the other, Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, remains hospitalized in serious, but improving condition, and in custody under heavy police guard.  

During the ensuing manhunt, hundreds of local, state, and federal police conducted searches, and, as at least one video has shown, entered private homes at gun point without search warrants.  Under the circumstances, part of me understands that; however another part of me feels a precedent has now been set and such warrantless searches could become the norm, or at least more frequent.  Certainly, I foresee multiple and unending lawsuits and protests on both sides of that issue.

Among the many questions yet to be answered is if the perpetrators worked alone or were part of a larger group; were they conducting some form of jihad, or trying to bring attention to something else; are there other bombs?  Another looming question is whether the remaining suspect will be tried in civil court or by military tribunal?

Just as with all the rest of the recent tragedies around the country, at the end of the day, We the People will very likely never know all or even most of the real facts of this case.  

One thing is certain though, and that is that all of the police and emergency responders acted bravely and professionally.  They put their lives on hold for a week and answered the call of duty with little or no regard for their own personal needs, and as always, We the People salute them and thank them.