19 April 2013

Boston Strong

People love a story. They love to hear something good coming from something evil--so here it is. Boston is a city known for many things: Boston Cream Pie, those accents, the Bruins of whom all Canucks fans have become... well, accustomed with, the Boston Tea Party, the Marathon, the Red Sox and Fenway Park... but this past week, it will have another thing to add to that list. If there is one thing I have learned, it's that hate is a little word that can cause more damage than just one bomb. But so can another four letter word, and that word is love.

We, as human beings, are resilient. We can and will stand back up after being kicked down. It's in our nature to fight back when our lives are being threatened. it may not be today, tomorrow or in a month. It could take years, but Boston will rebuild itself and it will be stronger. We will also be stronger.

You can't answer hate with more hate. I'm a believer in good. I believe everyone is born with the capacity to love. We are all born with hearts the same size, and those hearts are meant to be used. Compassion is taught, much like empathy... much like hate. I believe the world is a beautiful place, despite everything that's happened of recent. I believe that when given the choice, people will choose to help someone in need. Does that make me naive? If so, I'd rather be naive than a cynic. I don't see what's so wrong with wanting to live in a world where we are all equal; where we're all allowed to walk along the sidewalk without worrying about being shot at, or attacked in any way.

I refuse to give someone the power to destroy my world. I refuse to allow someone to change my view on people, or to let them take away the good. There may always be bad, but with bad, there's also always going to be good. And just like those people in Boston who finished the marathon and kept running right on to the hospitals to donate their blood, the good will always outnumber the bad. You can try and tear us down, but we'll keep fighting. You can't break someone down who refuses to be broken. You can't lose if you refuse to give up.

Finding the right words to describe how I'm feeling has always been a challenge. To take the things inside your heart and splatter them onto a piece of paper isn't easy. I've struggled to find the perfect way of putting things; trying to be as eloquent as possible, without sounding cheesy and ridiculous. But perhaps the only thing to say is that I'm sad. I'm sad for the ones who lost their lives, and I'm sad for the families who have lost a loved one. I'm sad for the innocent lives now faced with the trauma of this past week. I'm sad that the media is going to spin stories and look for the best way to cleverly get the 'first report' on it all. In the midst of all this, I'm sad that I can already see the victims of this tragedy being forgotten while the ones who caused it get the fifteen minutes of fame they wanted.

If you are looking for reasons to doubt this world and our own humanity, you will find it. It's there everyday on the front page of the newspaper. But if you look closely, you'll also see the good. There's always someone helping.