C. Fraser Smith, The Daily Record Newswire
We are all Bostonians and, as President Obama said, we are all marathoners: We have to keep running in our pain and anger and anguish.
We are the mother and father of 8-year-old Martin Richard, one of three killed in the Monday bombing.
I say we are the parents in more than a symbolic way: The Boston Marathon is an individual event in which spectators are part of a big, national family. And an attack of this ferocity is an attack on family.
With more than 27,000 runners, we must all have had relatives or friends in the race — or been watching it. Two of my daughters and two of my grandchildren were on the race course close enough to see the smoke and hear the blast.
They might have chosen to stand at the finish line. Knowing it would be difficult, they chose another spot along the 26-plus-mile route.
The Richard family was there at end of the race Monday to cheer for friends. It’s a New England tradition to show up when, as the jokesters used to say, “It’s spring and the saps are running.”
Admire the runners
We joke, but we admire these men and women. I remember years ago when I lived in Providence, R.I., traveling up to the parade route to watch. I couldn’t believe how fast the leaders ran — like schoolboys, I thought, who had broken a window and were running from the principal.
That’s when I saw what a community event it was. Firehouses were open to exhausted runners, some of whom recuperated on cots set out by the firemen. Over the years, the race has grown and the custom of community cheering has grown with it.
On Monday, Martin Richard’s father stepped away from the family for a moment and Martin followed. He just wanted to give his dad a hug. Seconds later, back with his mother and sister, the boy was killed in one of the two explosions. His sister lost a leg. His mother suffered a brain injury.
A picture obtained after his death shows a smiling, snaggle-toothed boy with a handmade poster, part of a school project perhaps, that said: “No more hurting people.”
The bomber or bombers will be held accountable, our president says. What else could he say? There is no way to account for evil that allows such an act. The perpetrator almost surely will be found. But there will be no adequate accounting.
We are obliged to remember the depths to which humankind can fall. We know that just as Martin Richard was a noble spirit, others among us will engage in heinous, craven acts. The “saps” and their families will simply be targets.
These acts are meant to kill, to undermine community, to mock humanity.
President Obama says they will not prevail. The crowds will be back next year. Surely he is right.
Long-lost innocence
At least one commentator said innocence died in Boston on Monday. Innocents were murdered, to be sure. But innocence remained only for those who paid no attention to Sept. 11, Aurora, Sandy Hook and so many other atrocities in history.
But there is much generosity and goodness in our history as well. We do not forget the teachers and administrators at Sandy Hook. The brave policemen and volunteers saved many lives in Boston. There is in us a counterforce that gives some comfort.
As we go forward, we might hold up the noble heart of Martin Richard.
We must also make this difficult commitment: to deal with the perpetrators, when they are found, in accord with our values.
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C. Fraser Smith can be reached at fsmith@wypr.org.
