It's hard to get my mind around the events in Boston last week. Both Monday's horrific bombings and Friday's violent conclusion hit close to home--even though we're 700 miles away. Here's why I think these events felt so personal:
1. Most of us know someone who lives in Boston.
2. Marathons are a big part of our culture--our more wholesome culture, that is. The Boston Marathon is like the 4th of July.
3. The bombings were so thoroughly photographed that, by the end of the day, the victims--both those who died and those who survived--almost became our friends. They looked like people we knew.
4. The backwards baseball cap of the younger brother evoked the image of high school boys all over the country.
5. Backpacks are standard American gear.
6. Sean Collier, the MIT officer, was just sitting in his car doing his job; his shift was about to end.
7. The brothers spared the life of the guy whose car they hijacked. If we'd played a starring role in this horror movie of all horror movies, wouldn't we have been cast as him?
8. Two brothers on a mission isn't hard to imagine. We find ourselves hoping that Tamerlan lured his younger brother Dzhokhar into this diabolical scheme. Then, we tell ourselves, this nightmare might make some sense.
9. In a video filmed by a woman who lives down the street from the Watertown shootout, you hear over 50 gunshot and explosive sounds--as well as dogs barking and birds chirping.
10. A 19-year-old curled up in a boat--Huckleberry Finn he ain't.
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