On April 15th, 2013 tragedy struck the country. At the 117th Boston Marathon, two bombs detonated killing at least three and injuring over one hundred others. One of the deceased was an eight year old boy watching the race with his mother and sister. A large percentage of the wounds were to the lower torso, injuries like a loss of an ankle or one or both legs. The injuries have been described by surgeons as gruesome.
The Boston Marathon is a 26.2 mile race through Greater Boston in eastern Massachusetts. It is always held on the third Monday of April which is also Patriots Day and it was first established in 1897. This is one of the premier marathons, as you need certain qualifying times in order to participate and it attracts people from all over the country and the world. The marathon also attracts large crowds, especially near the finish line where many of those injured were. Many of the injured were spectators out to show their love for the sport.
According to major news sources, the bombs were places relatively low to the ground which is why the majority of injuries were to the lower extremities and there were fewer fatalities. Also, because cars and other large vehicles were cleared from the marathon route, the bombs detonated had to be placed in smaller items. The blast was powerful, but it could have been worse. There were other allegations that there were more bombs found and detonated in a controlled environment by the police.
We live in a high tech society and the police and FBI plan to use that to their advantage in order to piece together a timeline of what occurred on Monday afternoon. News of the blast went viral almost immediately and videos of the explosions can be found on the websites of major news sources as well as social media.
In a New York Times article, a runner was interviewed and described the scene as a war zone; there were blood stained streets and limbs flying. A war zone is an accurate description of what took place in Boston from what can be seen through photos. When 9/11 occurred, our age group was between 6 and 9 years old. Old enough to understand that something terrible had happened, yet too young to fully grasp all that was going on. When thinking of younger generations, war is all that they have grown up knowing, they don’t remember a time when this country was at peace.
The parties responsible for this attack will be found and brought to justice; there are people at every level of government working on this case. While the investigation is ongoing, now is not the time to formulate conspiracy theories or point fingers. Within hours of the news of these bombings being made public, people already began to blame the Middle East and also heard people speculating that North Korea might be behind this atrocity. The best thing that we can do for our country is to showcase a united front, remain aware of our surroundings, and pray that healing will begin to take place.