'No More Hurting People ... Peace,' Martin Richard, 2013

By now, if you’re a concerned American, you’ve heard that two home made bombs exploded near the finish line of the Boston Marathon on Monday.  Technology allows for nearly immediate media coverage, and the exposure is supplemented by well-meaning reporters who keep us abreast of the most recent information and the facts they know.  A prevailing answer that they and all of us want is, “Why?” 

Quite likely the only person that can provide the answer to why is the bomber himself or herself.  For the rest, it’s speculation.  Though a lot of us are very curious as to why someone would do this, don’t expect a lot of satisfaction once you find out the answer.  That is, the answer to why is likely to be just as frustrating, if not more so, as not knowing at all.  I mean, can you even begin to consider an explanation for “Why” that won’t make you even angrier?

Knowing that I’ll get no satisfaction from the jerk’s reason why, I’ve decided to search for the answer in the heroics inspired by this disaster.  My first hero is not really a person at all.  It’s technology.  This killer expected to get away with these murders.  As of this writing, no one had been arrested, it wasn’t a suicide, and no attention-seeking extremist has claimed responsibility.  

Thanks to the abundance of available technology (security cameras, a helmet camcorder, and the myriad of cell phones with video and cameras), it appears that the criminal will be caught.  As well, the publicity of the investigation and all of the available evidence should serve as a warning to future terrorists that big brother really is watching; you may shock us and hurt us, but those of us that are left are going to find you and hold you accountable.

Another hero could have been you or I; this hero simply wrote a Facebook post filled with compassion and common sense.  His name is Patton Oswalt, and you may be familiar with some of his work.  The post is too long to restate in its entirety here, but I want to share the last paragraph:

“So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance, or fear, or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you, and we always will.”

Read the full Patton Oswalt blog here on Huffington Post.

One need only watch the video of the bombings and see the hundreds who rush to the aid of those who were injured.  It took only one (perhaps a small group) to inflict the damage, but the explosion united millions against this type of gutless and cowardly act.

My final hero is one of the “good” Oswalt intended and also the youngest victim of the disaster, Martin Richard.  I know hardly anything about Martin except that he was eight years old and sensitive and considerate beyond his years. The story goes that Martin was disturbed by the death of Trayvon Martin so he made a sign that said, “No more hurting people…Peace.”  As a hero of violence himself, the picture being circulated of Martin holding his sign implicates something beyond irony.

It’s horrible that Martin died so young.  That he was able to create such a meaningful legacy in eight short years is heroic.  Preserving his memory through his words seems like a fitting honor for a hero. “No more hurting people…Peace.”