Tuesday, 16 April 2013

In honour of the victims of the Boston marathon tragedy


Sadness abounds this morning after the senseless act of terrorism at the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday. Imagine the feelings of euphoria those who had just completed the arduous marathon must have felt when they crossed the finish line only to have that feeling ripped away from them by a coward or cowards who decided to plant bombs.
 Innocent people who had probably trained for quite some time to be fit enough to even attempt the race. Innocent people who stood on the sidelines to cheer on people who entered the race. Fathers. Mothers. Brothers. Sisters. Children. Friends. Grandparents. Husbands. Wives. Lovers. The list is endless of the competitors and spectators and stores that were destroyed by a faceless and nameless threat.
I could not watch any of it last night because I was in a state of shock. And I did not want to go to bed with the news on my mind. Fresh on my mind. I called a friend who lives in Boston to make sure he was okay because I was worried he may have run in the marathon. Thankfully for him, he had not competed. But he had seen the explosions and said it was horrible. I could only imagine the pandemonium that ensued.
I then called another friend to make sure she was okay. Thankfully, she was safe as well. She told me when the news broke a lot of people from her job left early. Just got out of the city and went home to make sure they weren't stuck in the city. Many of them in a state of shock.
Saying a silent prayer to the Universe for all those who had been injured, killed or had to witness the horrifying act. For the survivors and relatives of the killed and injured. Saying a silent prayer for mankind to know we have people that are capable of causing such mass destruction on what was meant to be a day of celebration for people.
Thinking this morning when I woke up about all those people. Thinking about the city of Boston. Thinking about us as humans. Many of us saying it’s not safe to go anywhere. Many of us starting to fear again. Panic starting to rise inside me. Breathe I told myself.
And then I closed my eyes and went to that place of silence. That place of stillness. Realising the one thing we cannot do is to stop doing what we do. To stop going places is not the answer. We cannot live in fear. We cannot stop living. That’s what the perpetrators want. They want to make us fear our right of freedom. Our freedom of choice.
To the victims and families of the Boston tragedy, I send love and light and prayers. To our Universe and to the perpetrator(s) of this tragedy I send love and light and prayers. This is a tragedy that need not have occurred but it did and now we must try to shift our consciousness away from the gory details to a period of healing and reconciliation.
And to honour all those who have been hurt, killed, both mentally and physically, we have to live our lives as fully as we can. As truthfully as we can. With grace and gratitude because we never know from one moment to the next how quickly our lives can change. And as my calendar today says, what each of us needs to say to ourselves every single day is, “I love life! I am so glad to be alive!” And really mean it. Amen.



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