When I was in college, Patriot's Day meant the Boston marathon. It meant joining Scream Tunnel at Wellesley College, in which 2,000 women stood on the sidelines cheering, "I LOVE YOU YOU'RE AMAZING KEEP IT UP YOU CAN DO IT" until they were hoarse and sunburned. The campus was situated after a particularly grueling part of the course and to see those bedraggled, discouraged, exhausted runners light up and hussle on by would move us all to tears. Some stopped to hug us, a few passed out business cards that read, "Joe Smith, Available for Dating," but most just plodded along, waving and smiling, propelled by that incredible focus and mental toughness that set distance runners apart from mere mortals.
It was such a happy day. There is something transformative about watching people transcend the limits of their minds and bodies.
How could someone commit such a horrific act of destruction on a day that encapsulates all that is great about the human spirit?
(And how could Piers Morgan of CNN be such a monumental boob? He somehow manages to turn everything he touches into tawdry tabloid fodder.)
My heart goes out to the city that sheltered me, and to all the poor souls who suffer there.
Images: Words of love and peace projected onto the facade of the Brooklyn Academy of Music last night.
