Some Thoughts on The Boston Marathon Attack

When a pivotal, devastating, moment like what took place yesterday at the Boston Marathon happens, I don’t always know how to react. On the one hand, I want the information as it comes in--to be glued to my television-- but on the other hand, I feel compelled to turn off the television, process on my own, and hear the full story, all at once. Simultaneously, I fear we have become culture that moves from one tragedy to the next without a break, and I feel I must find a way to avoid the constant pull of the stream.

I also feel a small sense of responsibility to talk about it.

Tragedies of this nature are no small thing. They are big moments that rock the core of our stability and shatter our ability to trust one another on a global level. This carries great repercussions for humanity, the vastness of which I can’t fully grasp. I go everywhere in my mind from “thank god I don’t live in a city” to deep empathy for those who have lost loved ones.

There is still much that we don’t know, and will come to learn in the coming days, weeks, and months. But I wanted to talk about what might also come out as those weeks and months come about...it is perhaps what worries me the most, and that is the lingering anger that comes. In an effort to beat down deep emotion and yet join in the connectedness that we crave, many turn to expressions of anger. We hold fast to the idea that anger will somehow give us the push we need in order to seek justice; that anger will propel us forward in the “good fight.”

In reality, there is no “good fight.” Meeting violence with violence will never solve anything, or take away pain, or mend hurt feelings. Anger and violence will only create more of the things that we hate the most which are, in fact, fear, hate, and violence themselves.

I wanted to offer this up today as people draw back from the shock of the news. I want to offer my peace, my love, and my empathy. I want to offer the good that I have in me...and I hope that you will too. In the wake of these ordeals, we are always faced with a choice, and that is how we react. Though you may initially feel anger, I urge you to push past that anger, melt into sadness and then into peaceful solution.

I understand that is asking a great deal. I am sorry for our losses--both in this tragedy and in others like it--and I want them to stop. The only way to do that is to embrace nonviolence and to understand that anger doesn’t heal.

Please feel free to share your well wishes, your love and your peace for the people of Boston  in the comments section below.