Reminders

This week is a week I'm glad to see the end of. Every day this week has been marked. April now bears an ugly scar for an entire week, right through the middle of the month. Historically, the 14th (Lincoln, the Titanic) and 20th (Hitler's birthday, Columbine) already have negative connotations. The year 2013 just fleshed out the days in between.

Just to recap (for anyone who's been under a rock,) Monday was the Boston Blasts, Tuesday the country let itself slip into a comfortable state of 'slacktivism', Wednesday was the explosion in West, Texas, Thursday was the beginning of the manhunt for the bombers, and Friday was the day they caught the second of the pair. 

I think what makes the West Texas event so profound is that we were slipping into the slumber of slacktivism after Boston. We thought "that's enough crisis for now" and paid our respects and posted our statuses and thought we were done. We thought we could be done. Texas may have been more error than terror, but the losses are more numerous than Boston. But can we really qualify one tragedy against another? Is that more or less fair to the victims of either? God forbid there's anyone who suffered from both, I couldn't even begin to fathom. 

And then, as a reminder that we are truly never done with this, that some people are inherently bad and merciless, the suspects from Boston reared their ugly heads, and MIT was the setting for the violence. The sound of gun shots and more explosions, even a car crash  riddled the air in Cambridge. The whole thing seems like something out of a movie. 

Then the entire city of Boston was put on lockdown. One of the biggest cities in the world, one of the most powerful cities in the country was a ghost town yesterday, residents waiting with bated breath behind locked doors for something to happen. At least they finally caught the second bomber. I know I slept more soundly for it.

Meanwhile, the Texas community is still rebuilding itself in the shadow of the bombings. Remember that?

And to end the week from Hell, my immediate community is torn between two very different reasons to note 4/20. On the one hand, the air above 5280 is a little cloudier today, dense with marijuana. On the other, below the cloud, the memory of some reminds us that today is the fourteenth anniversary of the Columbine shootings. Thanks to the program Rachel's Challenge, 4/20 is a day I remember for starting a chain reaction that has positively affected so many lives, but it's a double edged sword. When this day rolls around Littleton, it still marks a day when hatred reigned. There are some days when sunshine just seems out of place.

I hope that when this week rolls around next year, I heed the advice I'm about to spew.

I think we should look at this week, as it gets buried further and further in history, as a reason to be grateful for what we have. We should look at the positives (the outstanding emergency crews in Boston and West, the noteworthy work of the FBI and BPD, the fact that we, unlike Syria, repay terror with justice, the fact that it's over, to name a few).

We should take this week as a reminder as to why we choose to be good people every day. To my knowledge, you, Reader, are not malicious. You don't carry in your heart a germinating seed of hatred. And even if you do, maybe you choose to deny it nutrient, maybe you choose to replace it with hope, hope that whatever you hate will change, will evolve. I hope it brings you understanding and peace.

We as a race must evolve to survive. I as a person must evolve in that I need to learn to honor and respect the magnitude of things without bearing it on my heart, mind, and shoulders. I need to discover a more productive way to react than sitting at my computer and blogging about it. I need to find something active. Every action is incomplete without its equal and opposite reaction, and I need to find that reaction, because Facebook just doesn't cut it. 

Meanwhile, take a moment today to respect the victims of the Columbine Shooting, privately or publicly. It will always be a big deal.