Sunday, April 21, 2013

7 days, 7 thoughts

1. You never think that it can be your town.  That it could be your house. That anything bad could ever happen to you. Well, stop thinking that. It wasn't my house, but I'm sure the residents of 67 Franklin Street didn't think that it would ever happen to them. Or anyone in Watertown, for that matter. It's scary when anything like this happens regardless of where, but there's an added element of fear when it happens on the streets you've been driving on for years, when the malls you've been going to since you can remember are surrounded by police officers, when you know exactly where every news station's camera crew is located.

2. That being said, this was also the first time in my entire life that I've been afraid to live. I've had an intermittent fear of dying, to varying degrees, which I've talked about here often. But I've never been afraid of living, or been afraid for the lives of my family and friends. It's a horrifying feeling that I never want to experience again.

3. As horrifying as all of this has been, I really wanted to know what was going through the minds of these guys as they were on the run. Maybe we'll get answers as to why they bombed the Boston Marathon and what their motivations were for coming to Watertown, but I want to know what Dzhokhar Tsarnaev was thinking as he was lying on that boat, what his tactical plan was. It's just something very interesting to me.

4. Speaking of which, this entire thing felt more like a TV show than real life. And maybe that's what was so terrifying about it, the fact that I could make comparisons between this and House, Lost, and Dexter. A fan of any of these shows who has seen the entire series should know the stories behind the pictures, and it's scary to think that something like this was actually happening.

5. All I wanted to do Thursday and Friday nights was watch the news. I was caught in the middle of wanting to sleep in the hopes that when I woke up it would be all over, and staying up through the night to make sure I didn't miss anything. I ended up going to bed at 4:30 Thursday night (/Friday morning), and watched the news until about 9:30 on Friday night, before our Spring Weekend concert. One comment about the media - you can't trust anything anyone says. They thought they had the guy on the street, but he checked out. They thought it was missing Brown student Sunil Tripathi, but it wasn't him. Between Twitter and other forms of social media, police scanners, and even news stations themselves, it seemed as though we couldn't take anything at face value.

6. I'm just glad that this (seems to be) over. I've been a little skeptical that it actually is, but based off of how the police have been going about their business, it sounds like everything can start moving towards the way it was. Bad and good will still exist, but the reactions and efforts of every single person involved is far superior than what started everything in the first place. I cried when I watched the Bruins fans sing the National Anthem on Wednesday. I was bawling my eyes out when the Fenway Faithful did the same in front of the BPD and WPD. One of my favorite sights ever is the American flag draped over the Green Monster, but nothing has been more special than seeing the Boston Marathon volunteers on the warning track right in front of it. Nothing more special than "BOSTON" across the home whites, instead of the usual "RED SOX." This is our fucking city, everyone. And with that being said...

7. I can't wait to go home.

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