It always seems so utterly incomprehensible. How a human being can deliberately seek to injure innocent children, mothers, fathers, sisters and brothers.
Whether the destruction is wrought with homemade bombs or manufactured assault rifles. Whether there is a political motive or a motive born
out of a troubled and ill mind. It matters little as we stand in shock watching how in one terrible moment a cheering, happy, jubilant crowd can be rendered into a mass of maimed, moaning victims. And like others who stood in shock watching the tragedy unfold, our minds scramble to try and remember if we know anyone who was running in the Boston Marathon. "Did they go?" turns to, "Are they OK?" which in turn becomes, "Thank God, they're safe." Of the roughly 2,000 Canadians who ran in the marathon, about 200 were from B.C., and probably about a dozen were from Burnaby and New Westminster. To our knowledge, all of those local runners, were uninjured physically. But, as history reminds us, anyone who has had the misfortune to witness or be a part of such trauma is never left emotionally unscathed.
But what we hope to remember and carry out of these tragedies, whether they're deliberate such as the Boston bombing, or, perhaps, accidental such as the fertilizer factory explosion in Texas, is the certitude that there are far more heroes than villains in our world. If we were shaken to our cores by the thought of a wilful attacker, we are strengthened by the photos and stories of first responders and bystanders who rushed to the aid of those injured, putting themselves at risk.
In Texas it is expected that some of the dead will be firefighters, many were volunteers who rushed to put out the fire and were caught in the explosion.
In Boston, the video of police and paramedics rushing into a smoke-filled area littered with melted metal, reminds us of the goodness, bravery and compassion of human beings. Something that is sorely needed in times like this.
