Fighting the Hate - Reflecting on Boston and Humanity after a Week of Terror
Terror – Noun. 1. Extreme fear: “people fled in terror;” “a terror of darkness.” 2. The use of such fear to intimidate people, esp. for political reasons: “weapons of terror.”
Last week, America dealt with another harsh, cold, and brutal reminder of what terror is when Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev perpetrated an act of terrorism at the Boston Marathon. Around four hours into the marathon, when the majority of participants were finishing their runs, two bombs went off at the finish line area. The initial blasts killed three people: Krystle Campbell, 29; Lu Lingzi, 23; and Martin Richard, 8. Another 282 civilians suffered injuries ranging from cuts and bruises to loss of limbs.
Three days later, the city of Boston was a battle zone again when the Tsarnaev Brothers assassinated MIT police officer Sean Collier, 26, and later stole a car in the midst of an escape attempt. As the country watched, Boston’s finest engaged these two in a firefight that ultimately claimed the life of Tarnerlan. Less than 20 hours later, Watertown resident David Henneberry discovered Dzhokhar hiding inside a boat in his backyard.
The city of Boston rejoiced as the terror inflicted at the hands of these two young, troubled, evil men ended. In fact, America rejoiced. Boston became America’s city last Monday and we as Americans celebrated the news that Boston’s terror finally concluded. However, as the nightmare ended for the city, the nightmare will never end for those directed affected by the cowardly actions of Tamerlain and Dzhokhar. Loved ones were lost forever and lives changed permanently as result of the horrible, hate-fueled actions of two men.
As the news unfolded, the Tsarnaev brothers were initially labeled Muslim terrorists as part of the post-9/11 paranoia that stresses every single Muslim in the world wants the United States to burn. This was even before the identities of the bombers were discovered. Of course, in furthering along the stereotype of the Islamic terrorist, authorities revealed both men were Muslim. However, the Tsarnaev brothers fit the profile of Islamic extremists – members of the Islamic faith fueled by hate and dangers to their own culture as well as western society. They were not members of Al-Qaeda nor were they peaceful followers of Allah. Tamerlain and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were two men working on their own with ill will and evil intentions for their fellow man; two men out of the over seven billions people on this planet.
In the initial aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing, one can become scared to live. I mean, if you are at the risk of a terrorist attack running and watching a marathon then you are at risk to be a victim at any sporting event, concert, or mass gathering in a public venue. James Holmes made trips to the movie theater a horrifying venture with his assault in Aurora, Colorado. Schoolchildren cannot even go to school safely anymore as Adam Lanza reminded us in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary tragedy. However, for every incident like this perpetrated by one, two, five, or 20 individuals, we must remember that they are in the smallest of minorities – the evil beings wishing ill will upon the world. We cannot allow those people, as few as they are, to take away the joys and freedoms that make life worth living.
As good as I tried to put my feelings on this national tragedy, I think that comedian Patton Oswalt summarized my feelings (and the majority of people optimistic towards the human race) with a series of posts on Twitter in the immediate aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombing. I leave you with those words because I do not know how better to stress my belief in the goodness of the human race.
“I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, ‘Well, I’ve had it with humanity.’
But I was wrong. I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem. One human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.
But here’s what I DO know. If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. (Thanks FAKE Gallery founder and owner Paul Kozlowski for pointing this out to me). This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.
But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.
So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, ‘The good outnumber you, and we always will.’”
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