Boston, We're With You

I've lived through perilous times.  In my lifetime, we have lost a president to assassination; had another wounded in an assassination attempt; saw the federal building in Oklahoma City explode - taking out 161 people including the children in a daycare center; the bombing at the Atlanta Olympic Games; the first attack on the World Trade Center; the final, excruciating attack on the World Trade center; the attack on the Pentagon the same day; the high-jacked airlines that hit the buildings killing all aboard; the high-jacked Flight 93 that crashed into a field in Pennsylvania when the passengers fought back.  Then yesterday the Boston Marathon was bombed with a loss of life and injuries yet to have the final tally.  These things all took place on American soil.  I could name several other such incidents that involved the death of Americans on foreign soil or foreign seas.

Every time these things have happened, we stop and ask ourselves, "is this some offshore zealot who hates Americans and the American way of life?" Or "is this some home-grown terrorist with some reason to hate this country?" Or "is this some nut job whose brain synapses suddenly misfire, giving him the idea that his target(s) are responsible for his troubles?

We always search for explanations.  Sometimes we find them and sometimes we don't.  It takes someone with a skewed perspective of humanity to perpetrate events to kill innocent people - to calculate the best place and way to take out the most victims.  Beyond that, we may never know the motivation.

I'll tell you one thing, this is the action of a coward or cowards, no question about that.

I'll tell you something else.  We cannot prevent all such actions, although I know since 9/11 our country has prevented several attempts that we know about and probably more that we will never learn about.

Whoever did this does not know Americans very well.  It is at such times that this country pulls together - like the first responders, the doctors, the nurses, the bystanders, the runners who went toward the carnage yesterday to help.

Americans have a history of responding well to these events, of helping people who need it.  We don't do it by political party affiliation, we do it because we're all Americans.

So, you out there, the one(s) who planted the bombs yesterday, you hurt us, but you will never break us.  Because in times like these, we pull together and act as one country.  United, we are one tough bunch, hard to break.

We are also tenacious and will never give up the hunt for you.  Think we won't find you? Ask Osama bin Laden...oh, that's right, you can't ask him, because Americans took him out.  Ask Timothy McVeigh...oh, yes, he was executed for what he did in Oklahoma City...Ask Eric Robert Rudolph, the convicted Atlanta Olympic Games bomber, if they'll let you see him in the maximum security lockup.

Go ahead and run, we'll catch up.  Do not doubt, we are coming.

In the meantime, Boston, we've got your back...

Update: Thank you, Watertown PD, FBI, and all other law enforcement agencies for capturing the remaining bombing suspect alive.  Thank you for your dedication and your focus. You deserve all the applause and cheers.  Great Job!!!