Believe in Boston

The bombings in Boston that happened yesterday made me ache for all of the people affected and all of the people in Boston who were scared for their lives and their city. It made me wish they were safe and long for a time when the scariest thing to happen on Boylston Street was a thong slipping down in the gay pride parade.

It was incredible to see all of the love and support on my facebook feed from all of the friends who live near or around Boston and were checking in and confirming that they or their family members were safe, or ones that lived no where near Boston and were just saying that they were standing with the people of Boston. It was truly wonderful to see everyone come together. I posted a picture that Josie had shared of Mr. Rogers, with a caption that said something like, "When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.'"

And in Boston yesterday, there were good people going to help. The medical tents that were set up for the runners now were helping explosion victims. The police were clearing spectators away, and keeping everyone calm. Runners themselves were rushing to nearby hospitals to donate blood for the victims that had suffered massive injuries. It truly showed that people come together in an emergency and can do the right thing.

But to have to get to that, it's just painful and sickening that it did. I hope that the media attention and press that this attack is getting is not enough to make some other lunatic want to top this atrocity with his or her own massacre. One of my facebook friends posted yesterday about how we need to drastically increase the mental health facilities and care in this country instead of enacting laws to prevent violence. I am for preventing violence through gun control, but I thought she was absolutely right about the mental health services. People aren't getting the care they need and are already off the deep end, sinking lower and lower into psychosis, to a place where they feel they need to reach out by killing or blowing up public places.

It's depressing that it comes to that for some individuals, but it's a fact of life, so it's something we as a country need to handle. We can't ignore that aspect of the problem any longer. These people aren't committing these heinous crimes because they have evil inside of them. They are unstable and unwell. And they need help. If we can get people like them help before something terrible happens, then we may be able to prevent the next Sandy Hook or Boston Marathon.

I just wish that I could somehow invoke all of my good memories of Marathon Monday in Boston, all of everyone's good memories of the day, from the years and years it's been going on, the cheering, the laughter, the sunshine, the good fellowship that existed all around the city that day...I wish I could harness all of those good feelings and project them back on yesterday and just erase what happened.

I think instead, I will look to keep Boston safe in my heart. Preserve my memories as sacred things that I can treasure for my lifetime, that will remain unmarred in my past. And hopefully, by the time, we get to next year, Boston will come back bigger and better than ever, ready to take on the world and ready to say, "We aren't going anywhere."