Patriot Resiliency
It's been a few days since the Boston Marathon. I couldn't be happier to be a member of this city. There are SO MANY reports from the NY times (here) and Jon Stewart (here) and Steven Colbert (here) to buzzfeed (here) that all come back to saying the same thing:
Boston is spirited and tough and resilient.
And it's true. Everything they've said about people running to give blood after the marathon and people opening their homes to strangers and restaurants opening their pantries for food and drink. Spectators jumped over barricades towards the danger to help (here). This is the city I live in. These are the streets I commute through. These are the people I love.
I'm sure you've been watching the news and seeing the explosions. I have friends who went to watch the marathon and were only a block away. Here's what you need to know about being here - my newsfeed and my friends are all posting and talking about how amazing Boston is. There was a Bruins game the other day and the whole crowd joined in to sing the National Anthem saying "stahs and stripes" at the top of their lungs (here). Here commotion and nervousness is replaced with a confident measured stride, a hand reaching out to help a neighbor or even a stranger, and a general sense of gratitude and pride in the city and people.
So outside of Boston, there may be misinformation and conspiracy theory and anxiety about getting to the bottom of this and claiming justice, but in Boston, there is raw, good, resilient, human spirit. A city that didn't miss a beat, still crowded subways and a busy downtown, people who did their dry-cleaning that afternoon and still went to the post-office and a handful of runners who continued to get in their afternoon jog. I wish that the rest of the country could feel this. My hope is that there will be a greater emphasis of gratitude for each of our cities that we live in, and pride in the citizens that we get to rub shoulders with. Every city has a culture, and I've loved Boston (and Cambridge) from the day I got here.
Thanks Boston for teaching me a lesson I will not be likely to forget.
Boston is spirited and tough and resilient.
And it's true. Everything they've said about people running to give blood after the marathon and people opening their homes to strangers and restaurants opening their pantries for food and drink. Spectators jumped over barricades towards the danger to help (here). This is the city I live in. These are the streets I commute through. These are the people I love.
I'm sure you've been watching the news and seeing the explosions. I have friends who went to watch the marathon and were only a block away. Here's what you need to know about being here - my newsfeed and my friends are all posting and talking about how amazing Boston is. There was a Bruins game the other day and the whole crowd joined in to sing the National Anthem saying "stahs and stripes" at the top of their lungs (here). Here commotion and nervousness is replaced with a confident measured stride, a hand reaching out to help a neighbor or even a stranger, and a general sense of gratitude and pride in the city and people.
So outside of Boston, there may be misinformation and conspiracy theory and anxiety about getting to the bottom of this and claiming justice, but in Boston, there is raw, good, resilient, human spirit. A city that didn't miss a beat, still crowded subways and a busy downtown, people who did their dry-cleaning that afternoon and still went to the post-office and a handful of runners who continued to get in their afternoon jog. I wish that the rest of the country could feel this. My hope is that there will be a greater emphasis of gratitude for each of our cities that we live in, and pride in the citizens that we get to rub shoulders with. Every city has a culture, and I've loved Boston (and Cambridge) from the day I got here.
Thanks Boston for teaching me a lesson I will not be likely to forget.
Comments