Remember when the Boston marathon was attacked a couple of years ago? Remember how we all panicked and acted like screechy wussbabies and targeted a bunch of innocent people who had nothing to do with the bombings and hid in our basements, getting on social media to tell everyone we have to carpet-bomb and then invade Muslim countries because we are military geniuses on par with Sun fucking Tzu?
No?
If you were not ripped from the forehead of Zeus then kindly STFU
That’s right, you instead remember a city responding with strength and resolve. You remember Bostonians, who are total assholes 90% of the time, suddenly displaying a dignity and courage you never would have expected from the same group of people who, on the loss of a center fielder, whined endlessly on sports shows as if the reanimated corpse of George Steinbrenner had just removed one of their testicles and eaten it on live television.
You remember Bostonians going to work, crowding the T and Commuter Rail. You remember us dodging armored vehicle convoys in the street, finding ways around Copley to get to offices and appointments. We did it all week while those jackholes were still at large. Because “fuck those guys,” was the attitude. The only day we didn’t show up for work was on Friday when they told us to get off a packed train into town because the cops were pinning down Dzhokhar. But we were all going in. “Fuck those guys,” to reiterate.
It smelled of Dunkins, Fenway Franks and Tamerlan Tsarnaev pissing himself as his brother drove the SUV over him trying to escape the cops
Tuesday I heard a newscaster saying how the marathon bombing had “paralyzed the city for a week.” The fuck it did. I had to stand in line behind a fully-jacked SWAT team to get a goddamed tuna sub, but we were all there. Everyone. We had a vendor coming in from Manhattan to have a meeting we probably could have delayed or done remotely but we kept the engagement. And the Manhattan people didn’t ask to reschedule. They came up on the Acela and even though I’d never met them they emailed to say, “we’ll still be there on the 17th if you guys will.” Damn straight. I’m not a solider. My job is not particularly important to the day-to-day functioning of society, I don’t save lives and I don’t keep the lights on. But maintaining our cool and doing the right thing was all of our duty and we did it.
“Ah shit, we shoulda put a chair in our pakin space.”
I’m wondering this week what happened to that city.
We didn’t say “no refugees” back then, even though the guys who attacked us had come here seeking asylum in 2002. We’re supposed to be the “smart state” and we seemed to know after the actual bombing here that there’s no more or less risk among screened refugees than there are from people born here. We asked thoughtful questions about radicalization, the shifting dynamics of warfare and America’s leadership role in the world which Boston, a city smaller than fucking Memphis, or El Paso or freaking Jacksonville Florida, gets to help define. Because we are tough and smart and punch above our weight. Or we used to, anyway.
Spoiler Alert: This is the 21st century and people are going to get killed by terrorists.
Yep, that’s the reality. No politician will say it, but that’s the truth. Sorry. The same global open communication and travel networks that allow us to lead 21st century lives are the same tools these human-shaped bags of rat feces can use to hurt and kill us. There is no way to completely stop them without hurting ourselves in the process. It’s like cancer- it’s too much like us to kill easily. The best we can do is try and prevent it and cut it out when we find it.
The not dying of smallpox or getting polio part of being in the 21st century makes it a pretty good deal though, on balance. Today you’re more likely to be killed in a car crash or fireworks or setting your own house ablaze on account of being a dumbass or by effing cows (who kill 108 people a year in the United States), than from terrorists. But the sad reality is people are going to get killed. We can take actions to prevent and minimize it, but nothing can fully prevent it. Like car crashes, shark attacks and people being hit by trains; some small number of our fellow citizens, maybe people we know and love, maybe even us, are going to be killed by terrorists. Fact.
Life, pretty much.
So what do we do then?
Don’t be idiots and do what the terrorists want. Don’t listen to people trying to use fear to increase their own power, whether that’s fucking ISIS or our own presidential candidates, both of whom are desperate for attention. Don’t give it to them. Don’t advocate cruelty against large groups of people who aren’t responsible. I’m the first to say the Islamic supporters of these radical movements have to be harshly dealt with- especially elements inside places like Saudi Arabia and Qatar- who are the funding head of the ISIS snake. But anyone who’s ever traveled overseas knows our government can do some shitty stuff, but most people in the rest of the world can separate citizenry from leadership. They don’t treat Americans badly because they know I personally didn’t make the call to invade Iraq or back Noriega. We need to be like this as well. We need to show some backbone and not be scared even when there is risk, which is almost always slight. Don’t be stupid, but don’t be a coward either.
I want strong, smart Boston back. I’m ashamed at the difference between how brave we were in the face of a real threat and how pants-shitty we get around nominal threats like Ebola and the Paris attacks. Pull it together, Boston.
We’re better than this.
Thank you. Well said. And welcome back…you have been missed!
Dude, Thanks! Fear mongering was so GWB. I hate that shit. There is so much more to life than who’s eating who, but as animals it will always be an undercurrent and motivator. Nourishing my soul and finding gratitude in the smallest things is the best way I have found to live with this human condition. Evolution is slow, none of this is new, just new tools and shot gun media spewing the fear flavor of the day.
The sun rise was amazing this morning!
Yes, the smallest things of beauty and love. That should be the emphasis of our lives…
Well said – just like yesterday’s rant – in a good way.
Bravo.
Spot on! Would love to have some of those candles for those so anxious to keep repeating the mistakes of the past
Remember when the IRA blew up the department store? Remember when the IRA stoned little girls on their way to school. Remember when the people of Boston stoned school buses? Remember how the people of Boston rallied to stop . . . oh . . . .ya, that was different . . .
or this? http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/apr/17/thats-me-in-picture-ted-landsmark-boston-anti-busing
…okay. All true, especially the last part.
If we really look at the level of bigotry in our midst it is not a constant, it is a declining and overwhelmingly unpopular point of view.
Europeans in North America poisoned whole Native tribes with diseases we were immune to. We sterilized, lobotomized and interned indefinitely persons with mental illnesses. We hung ‘witches’ so we could lay claim to their estates.
Now people line up to meet Laurie Cabot and get her purple autograph on a tarot card. And the latest injustice to Native Americans is denial of the Vineyard Casino application for the Aquinnah Wampanoag. (sp.) And of course, Temple Grandin, who would have been kept in a concrete call in a pool of her own excrement in your granddad’s day, is now the best dressed animal rights activist in history.
So puh-leeze-
Enough with the “things never change” trope.
Terrific piece. Thank you for writing it.
Thanks for reminding us of our better selves. Those of us who weren’t commuting into Boston after the Marathon bombing don’t necessarily have such a vivid sense of our community’s courage then to compare to the cravenness emerging now.
Boston is still strong. Boston and Somerville’s mayors (among others) have told Governor Baker that he’s being an idiot and that our cities will still welcome refugees even if he’s too busy shitting his pants and pandering to idiots to have the state help.
where can i get that aromatic candle?
Well said!
Are you equating cows with terrorists? And then there’s the part, “Today you’re more likely to be killed… by effing cows…” Well I, for one, will not stop effing cows, no matter what you say! Otherwise, your scree is right on.
That would explain the large number of fatalities…I can’t imagine the cows like that very much!
TY. That’s the best thing my eyes have had stuffed in them in…well, a very long time. Amazingly well said.
Those asking about the candle; it’s by Yankee Candle, which is a company that makes and sells candles in their candle stores. I wouldn’t know if they are still selling that particular candle (I don’t frequent candle stores…not since the divorce anyway), but you could check out their website…
Welcome back Clam. Will there be a “What we did on our Summer Vacation” blog post?
http://www.quigleycartoon.com/?p=4149
Well written, until the end. There may have only been hundreds that attended, but I believe these are the Bostonians to whom you refer. We didn’t go anywhere, and this protest shows our resolve. http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/2015/11/21/hundreds-took-the-state-house-protest-gov-baker-stance-syrian-refugees/B9Dln5GFodjig3TUg2iGGK/story.html?s_campaign=bcom%3Asocialflow%3Afacebook
Perfect!