On: The Bombings in Boston

The Washington Post: Every Gun Control Proposal Fails in the Semate

by: Joshua Howell

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.’” -- Mr. Rodgers

It is true, if not always affirmed, that the measure of a country’s response to terrorism is akin to the measure of an immune system’s response to disease: It is not solely a matter of prevention, but of perseverance once sickness has prevailed. In terms of the latter, America has succeeded with steely resolve.

At the time of this writing, three have been killed and 176 injured in the Boston Bombings. The news media is still uncovering stories of bystanders inundated with shrapnel. An article has gone viral describing two brothers who each lost a leg in the explosion but nevertheless survived.

Incrementally, information is being revealed that will shock one from their complacency as a defibrillator will resuscitate the heart:  At least one of the bombs was constructed out of plain household and hardware supplies, a.k.a. commodities readily available to the public. We are told that ball bearings and nails were used specifically to maim the living, and that the explosive was placed in a 6-liter pressure cooker. The bomb was dropped into an inconspicuous backpack.  

Yet amidst the tragedy, steal away some inspiration:

For every Martin Richard that might yet come -- and they might, there are 17 who remain in critical condition -- there are a plethora of those who rushed in to provide aid. Carlos Arrendondo was one. The Washington Post reports that after witnessing the bombing, Arrendondo “ran across Boyston Street, jumped the security fence,” and immediately began assisting the disabled. He moved survivors to ambulances and at one point “tore strips out of a sweater he found lying on the ground” to create a tourniquet. His quick thinking saved at least one person from bleeding out.

For every Krystle Campbell there are a score of marathoners who, though tired and wan, immediately diverted their efforts toward the nearest hospital so they could donate blood.

And for every Boston University graduate student (the name has yet to be released), there are hundreds donating support in other ways. Households in the Boston area are providing comfortable accommodations for family members of Monday’s victims, so that the visitors might be with their kin as they convalesce.

This week, the 23,000 runners who participated in the 117^th Boston Marathon will be dwarfed by the number of Americans who will join Run/Walk for Boston events. These symbolic marathons are redundant evidence that while terrorism need not be faced with defiance, only stoicism, defiance can be conducive to the country’s psyche.

Anyone driving through College Station, Texas tonight, a city right on the cusp of rain, will see students from Texas A&M engaging in an impromptu run to show support for Boston. They are in all manners of garb, their bodies different shapes and sizes. Some are natural runners, others aren’t. All are Americans, undeterred. Today they show that when attacked, the brave  don’t scurry away in fear, they double down, they come together.  Their actions echo the words of Bill Iffrig, an elderly runner knocked to the ground by one of the blasts: “Terrorists, whatever they are… I don’t have time for it.”

For its part, the media has been comparatively tame -- by and large, information has eked out slowly but accurately.

The biggest journalistic faux pas emanated from (where else?) CNN, when John King “reported” -- quotation marks seem necessary when a report is erroneous -- that  a “law enforcement official” had identified “a dark-skinned male” suspect.

But his misstep is a far cry  from when NPR and MSNBC and Fox and -- feel free to take a breath -- CNN mistakenly “reported” that Representative Gabrielle Giffords had died two years ago during an assassination attempt. King’s mistake also doesn’t carry the heft of when news organizations mischaracterized the ruling on the Affordable Health Care Act.

Everyone else seems to have been on their game.

Still, for this writer’s money, David Fahrenthold of the Washington Post had the best line of the media blitzkrieg: “When the smart thing to do was run away, many ran into the smoke instead.”

Ran into the smoke.

Two days ago, some person or group initiated a terrorist attack during the Boston Marathon. Judging by America’s stark lack of fear, it was wholly unsuccessful.