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Carnage, Courage and Choice
Posted at: Apr/18/2013 : Posted by: mel
Related Category: People, Society, Watching America,
On April 15, 2013 a tragedy occurred on Boylston Street in Boston. Roughly 27,000 runners participated in the 2013 running of the Boston Marathon. As one of the most prestigious marathons in the world, runners participate from across the globe. For an event of this caliber, the fastest runners will cross the finish line in roughly 2 hours and 20 minutes with an average pace of 5-1/2 minutes per mile. Nevertheless, for most runners the goal is just to finish and they will continue to stream across the finish line well past the 5 hour mark. The majority of novice runners will cross the finish with a time between 3:30 and 4:30. It was during this busy time at the finish line that 2 bombs went off killing 3 and injuring or maiming over 170 runners and spectators. I am sure that when the perpetrators of this bombing are caught, they will have some misguided justification or rationale for their actions. The runners and spectators at this event were not at war with anyone and no motivation can explain away the carnage. Back before age and injury caught up with me I used to run a lot and participated in a number of marathons. I can state from first-hand experience that at the end of a marathon the runner’s body is depleted of nearly every remaining ounce of strength. The body begins to extract energy by tapping deep fat stores which is actually quite painful. The liver goes into a semi-shock state; releasing enzymes which remain in the body for 1-2 weeks afterwards. The legs are threadbare, feeling like limp rubber bands. For me, my lungs would sear with pain and my heart would be working at what felt like a dangerous rate. For most runners, with our bodies pretty much used up we crossed the finish line on only willpower. Despite this depleted state, when the bombs went off, several of the runners near the finish area sprinted into the danger area and administered aid to those injured and maimed by the attack. This is a pretty amazing phenomenon. It is clear to me that heroism and courage are moral qualities. We are hard-wired to run from danger, not towards it. The fact that most people ran from the scene does not make them weak, it merely means these tired and depleted runners are special. The videos on the news and the internet show us the triumph of human goodness. We see this response in crisis situations all the time where some will strive to preserve life, even at great risk to their own safety. I believe that this is a learned response and a principled choice by those few special individuals. In our information intensive world it is easy to become consumed by all of the crisis, tragedy and destruction going on in the world. Despite all this evil that men impose upon their fellow men, there is still plenty of goodness and good people doing good things in the world. Additionally, when something is important enough, we can overcome pain. All of us set limits every day on what we can do and what we can accomplish. But when life calls us to reach beyond the limits, we manage. For a special few among us, they will rise to levels previously not considered possible. This special behavior is true not just for runners finishing a marathon, but for many other people participating in many other aspects of life. There are spectators and runners who will be leaving Boston hospitals without legs. I expect that some of these individuals, who are runners, will return to Boston in future years to compete in the wheelchair division of the marathon. This, too, is a uniquely human response — when something is important to us, we summon energy beyond what we once thought possible and demonstrate that limits are often arbitrary. With enough passion and love we get to decide what we can do. To persevere is one of our greatest strengths. For some people, there will be the rants that the universe is unjust, and that fate has conspired to do them harm. I personally find this notion offensive. If the tragedy April 15 is a function of fate and fortune, then it was predetermined. If this were true, then a little boy, born 8 years earlier was predetermined to die on this date in this tragic way. Maybe more important, if you accept the notion of fate, we should not hold anyone accountable or responsible for the bombings; fate would mean that the bomber was predetermined to create and place the bomb before they were ever born. I sure don’t believe you should punish anyone for something they were predetermined to do by the forces of the universe before they were ever born. If this is true, fate is an ugly and unjust way to construct and drive the universe. I believe that the universe is driven by choice. Those killed and maimed at the Boston Marathon were not chosen and they were not targeted, they just were present when something bad happened. There was no skill in avoiding the explosions and there was no moral choice involved. There was a choice made by the bomber, and they need to be held accountable for their notorious choice. Free will and choice is an important concept that I am sure many will struggle with, but there is a big difference between choosing to do something bad and merely being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I believe strongly that we make our lives; they are not made for us. In fact, if fate drives the universe there would be no reason to get up each morning and try at life since the results are already predetermined. Without choice the big and little things we succeed at each day are not really our successes. There would also be no clear rationale for the heroism demonstrated by so many on Boylston Street. For me, having choice brings order and purpose to a universe that otherwise is nothing but chaos for humanity. For those who seek comfort in religion, choice is a common theme in most of the world’s great religions. Whether by religion or some others means; learning the lessons and gaining the tools to make good choices in life is important. I won’t lie and claim that I always make good choices, but many people and environments in my life have attempted to provide me with the tools and lessons to draw on for making good choices. The people who organized and executed these bombings did so to constrict our lives further. They aim to take away our freedom of movement. They want to take away our trust in strangers. Whatever their agenda, they are attempting to impose their will through the threat and execution of fear, violence, terror and destruction. That’s a long winded way of saying terrorism. Terrorism has a long history and has seldom worked despite its repeated use to create carnage. Part of America’s success in our diversity of peoples, communities and lifestyles. The most common reason for terrorism is an intolerance of others which is not going to be well received in our diverse society. Whatever the motives, on April 15, 2013 someone tried to take away the joy that comes from athletic competition, celebrated marathon determinism, and the civic pride associated with putting on a large event. Participants and spectator were maimed and killed. This terror was a choice made by an individual or a small group to create terror and restrict society. All of us now have a choice. We can decide that the events of the day will force us into our homes behind closed curtains, or we can go out and continue to live life. If this is a war being waged on us and if we don’t fight for our public spaces and civic freedoms and celebrations, we are going to lose them. If this is a war, we are not defenseless, let’s fight by not restricting ourselves. Let us fight by doing what it takes to keep the freedoms that are so much a part of the fabric of America. Let’s choose not to be the victims of terror. It’s the only right choice.
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