Yet again, the minority who are discontent and disgruntled with this life and the world we all live in have forced their anarchistic terror on the civilized world, this time at an event celebrating health and life, by bringing thousands of people together in a sporting event.
The Boston Marathon had proceeded according to plan, and that plan incorporated the usual level of increased scrutiny and security that goes hand in hand with any major public event today, since the disgrace that will always be remembered as 9/11.
The fact that there were two explosions at the finish line simply underlines the evil intention of hurting as many people as possible, given that there were not only banks of seated spectators, but the usual gathering of finishing/finished racers and various working Bostonians going about their business in the downtown core.
From what I can gather at this early time, it appears that the explosions occurred on or near Boylston Street, and perhaps right in front of the Fairmount Copley Plaza. Ironically, the Fairmount had recently celebrated their own centenary and had spent a cool $20M renovating the hotel inside and out. A second blast filled the air from a couple of blocks further down Boylston shortly afterwards.
You can see the fiery outburst in the video; this does not appear to be any kind of accidental explosion, especially given that there was a second one. At this time, I am hearing reports of at least two dead, with as many as one hundred victims with various levels of injuries. A devastating contribution to what had been an otherwise celebratory day and event.
What can one say? In many ways for me, it is a sort of deja vu, reminiscent of a much more violent time in the history of Ireland where we grew so accustomed to bullets and bombs that it had simply become accepted as a way of life. Until the Irish people themselves grew so tired of living in the past and living in a war zone, that the likes of the IRA became the problem rather than the one they were formed to supposedly solve.
In many ways, many of us left that small island due to our fatigue at living in civil war, and headed off out to a much wider world with less parochial issues. Ironically, the world has shrunk considerably since then, and somehow, problems in a variety of formerly irrelevant countries became a daily concern for many, if not most. Look at South Korea or Iraq, for example.
Today, daily life basically anywhere in North America or Europe has been impacted by the heinous acts and evil intent of the discontent, the psychopathic, the anarchistic, the violent and those who wish to effect global terror. The exertion of their sick desires onto everyone who walks a city street or travels basically anywhere these days is now something we apparently are forced to accept and live with - even when they are homegrown so-called "citizens" living among us and taking full advantage of the better life that ultimately eats at them so much.
The Boston Marathon is now sadly only a reminder that we are essentially no longer free, not in the true sense of the word. Yes, we are not slaves (outside of the office, at any rate), and yes we can move about supposedly freely, even if moving about now comes at the huge cost of a level of security previously unthinkable. Are we truly free when we have to be at an airport several hours before a flight, and are forced to take off a whole slew of personal items for scanning and inspection? Where one may even be forced to pass through a full body scanner?
The bottom line is that yes, we are still free, but the cost has gone up. The word free has changed to mean free to be potentially at the mercy of the cowardly and the weak and the crazy - because they enjoy a level of freedom that is actually frightening and should be equally unthinkable. I hope that Boston was riddled with cameras for this event, catching those responsible for this outrage in the act, and let their faces be patrolled across the front pages one time, before having those faces buried in some hole in the wall and letting them rot.
News is coming in by the minute as I type, and I just heard that there was a third bomb that was unexploded, and was later defused by the authorities. Additionally, one person (a foreign national) who was acting suspiciously was brought down by civilians on the street - he remains in custody at this time. There is more to come on this story, for sure.
I know that I usually end with a witty one-liner, but today, out of respect for those dead and injured, all I can say is that this is yet another terrible memento of the fact that we are far from the freedom that people used to talk of so fondly. Being at the mercy of terrorists hellbent on tearing apart the very fabric of our lives is one huge price to pay for that supposed freedom. - Kevin Mc
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