"I’ve called Boston home for the last three years of my life. During that time, I’ve grown a connection to the city that will never fade.
This kind of sentiment permeates the feelings of the entire population towards the city; few places in the world can boast the common bond that Bostonians share.
You can imagine how these citizens of one of America's most celebrated towns feel now, just 24 hours after explosions close to the finishing line of the Boston Marathon wreaked havoc, killing three people and injuring many more, some very seriously. At first there was a hope that it might turn out to be just a terrible accident, a gas main or electricity sub-station combusting for reasons that would eventually become clear. While it would not lessen the grief of those who lost family members or close friends, nor make living with the effects of their injuries any easier for those most afflicted, at least the element of malice would not be part of the collective memory of a tragic occasion. But that was not to be: police have confirmed that bombs were used, taking the events of the past 24 hours to a different level entirely.
Cutting across that sense of shared feeling like a blunt scalpel, the events of April 14 will live in infamy. I suspect that they will forever be etched into Boston’s psyche. Wounds like these are never easy to heal. Even as I live here in Dublin, I can feel the pain from an ocean away. The images – whether in newspapers, online of on television – hurt more than I thought these things ever could.
To understand the effect these bombings have had on Boston, one must grasp the importance of the day on which these senseless acts were carried out. The Boston Marathon falls on a Massachusetts-wide holiday, Patriots’ Day. The public holiday is to commemorate those who sacrificed their lives in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, in the quest for American independence. Garlanded in quintessentially American symbolism, this is the most prominent day of the year in Boston.
In addition to the Boston Marathon, the Red Sox play in the iconic Fenway Park and people across the city celebrate together in a shared sense of civic and historic pride.. But on this day of celebration, everything was brought to a shuddering and ultimately bloody halt in under 30 seconds. The unthinkable had occurred.
I was sitting at my kitchen table having dinner when one of my roommates came in. I could tell that something serious was up.
“Did you hear about what happened?” she asked.
I didn't need to tell her to go on.
“Two bombs went off at the Boston Marathon,” she said. “There could be more.”
It felt as if the world had collapsed upon me. The place I consider my home, the place I thought was invincible, had been attacked.
I did the obvious thing, rushing to get in contact with my friends in the area. Not knowing the situation on the ground, I expected the worst. Perversely, there was a kind of elation in discovering that all of my friends were safe. The sense of relief was fleeting. I turned on the news to witness the destruction first-hand. I was plunged into despair. The sight of utter destruction was sickening. My own backyard looked like it had become a war zone.
The bombings occurred in an area I know really well. Apart from anything else, I have attended the Marathon the last two years and would have been there again this year, if I hadn't been in Dublin. Never once did I feel like the lives of those around me were in danger.
That’s what makes this attack particularly devastating. It destroys people's innocence, and their sense of trust. Of course I have read about attacks in other countries, but until it happens at home you don’t really feel the gravity fully. Oddly, I now feel guilty that I have only given these stories a passing glance in the past, aware finally of the extent of the mental as well as the physical damage they can cause. Even during the 9/11 attacks, I was too young to understand what had happened. Although the scale is very different, the Boston attack triggers a sense of what that must have been like and the utterly devastating effect on the people of New York, and beyond at the time.
A day later, a kind of numbness has set in. There is nothing that I can do to help. It is a strange feeling, looking on from a distance. The only things I can bring to bear are words. Perhaps, however, that is something.
Whoever carried out these heinous crimes attacked Boston on a day that celebrates solidarity. Well, it is that solidarity which is going to carry Boston through. It is one of the most resilient cities on the planet. We might have been attacked, but we will never be defeated.
Indeed, while the images of destruction are powerfully ingrained, the sign of people running straight to the area of the explosions to help the wounded, and the stories of the Marathon-runners who ran directly from the finish-line to the hospital to give blood, speak volumes about the heroism of ordinary people.
This bond extends not just to the city, or just to the United States, but across the entire world. To have people in Ireland extend their concern and their condolences so generously to the people of Boston means more to me than I could ever express. Friends of mine in other countries have experienced the same response. For the first time, in my lifetime, I personally experienced a real, tangible sense of global camaraderie.
Evil often tries to overtake good, but, in the face of adversity, I believe that good will always overcome. It is often said that tragedy brings out the best in us all, and the reaction to this attack confirms that. We are one. It is a shame that it sometimes takes an horrific event like this to bring us together – or to make us aware of the togetherness that is too often left below the surface – but it is comforting to know that humanity is ultimately capable of so much empathy and love.
So as a Boston resident, and a person whose heart as been won by this great city, I would like to sincerely thank all of the people who have shown such concern and compassion in our hour of adversity.
Boston is my home. Boston is my city. Boston is my pride.
Boston will grow stronger. Of that I am certain."