My friends Paul and John live in downtown Boston, not too far from the marathon route. I didn't think either of them was running the marathon, but then most of those injured or killed were bystanders, not runners.
It turns out they were in Ft. Lauderdale waiting to board a plane to come home, and the plane was able to land later in the afternoon. But Paul said this morning that helicopters are still hovering over the area and emergency vehicle sirens continue.
But they and their friends were not harmed -- except of course the harm to an entire city and its people.
The response of the police and first responders was exemplary. They were well trained and managed a disaster in massive crowds in a downtown area -- on what was a city holiday, Patriot's Day. One of the great advance planning details was triage of the wounded, sending them to one of the five Level 1 trauma hospitals, according to the special needs of their particular injury.
The people have opened their hearts and their homes to the injured and those needing a place to stay -- the many thousands who came for the marathon and may have had trouble getting out because of airport closings.
The spirit of Bostonites and the marathon organization has also been inspiring. One spokesman said that the intent of terrorists is to induce fear, to make people afraid to go out, to participate in public events like this. Exactly the opposite is the effect. People are not staying home. They going out in defiance of the threat. And they're already predicting that the marathon will be even bigger next year.
Way to go, Boston !!!
Ralph
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Jon Stewart sounded a similar note of admiration for the people of Boston in this excerpt from his tv show:
ReplyDelete"Jon kept his comments on it brief, opting to simply thank the people of Boston for the overwhelming spirit they've shown in the wake of terror.
'"Thank you for once again in the face of gross inhumanity, inspiring and solidifying my belief in humanity and the people of this country."
"He went on to acknowledge the ongoing rivalry between New York and Boston, observing that situations like this reveal it's nothing more than a "sibling rivalry."
'"We are your brothers and sisters in this type of event. As a city that knows the feeling of confusion, anger and grief and chaos that comes from these events, I can tell you from personal experience, you got a hell of city going on and you've done an incredible job in the face of all this."'