Kathrine Switzer once said, "If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon." To this I say "too true." Haile Gebrselassie called it "the king of the distances." John J. Kelly, winner of the 1952 Boston Marathon called it "...another form of insanity." Kiyoshi Nakamura deemed the marathon "an art; and the marathoner an artist," and Hal Higdon said, "The marathon never ceases to be a race of joy, a race of wonder."
It is within this tradition that we are confronted with the act of terror perpetrated in today's bombing of the Boston Marathon. To see a celebration of human endurance and transcendence so maliciously violated is beyond comprehension. That spectators were purposefully targeted--those spirited supporters who make the race so meaningful for those who run--is truly horrible. Preliminary reports suggest at least three people have died, and 130 injured.
In the coming days we will know more. Until then, there seems little we can do but come together and endure. Yet if the great tradition of this sport is any indication, these very qualities are at the heart of the marathoning spirit. To take on the "king of the distances" may well be "another form of insanity," yet it is also "an art" that changes the participants as well as those who spectate. And on top of the horrific events which happened today, there is the further tragedy that going to watch a marathon may no longer restore our faith in human nature, as Kathrine Switzer believed. The bomb blasts at the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon can naught but shake our faith in the better angels of our all-too-human nature.
Yet from the ashes of those blasts today, perhaps there is hope too. That from this sad day we will as a community rally behind the victims, as well as the noble cause of again making the marathon the testament to human resiliency and courage is as always been. So let us come together friends and mourn the dead, pray for the injured, and give thanks for those spared. And let us never forget.
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