To say it’s been a tough day would be to minimize the horror for people in Boston still dealing with a very recent and raw tragedy. But it has been, nationwide and worldwide, as we come to terms with the news of the bombing at the marathon there. The fatality and injury counts continue to climb and we still know nothing about who was behind the attack and how they carried it out. With all that bad news, the expressions of strength and solidarity that have emerged in the media, online, and on the street, are especially welcome. Our favorites follow.
- Patton Oswalt’s brief but heartening reminder that those who do bad are still a very tiny fraction of our population has gone viral for good reason: It makes the case that the vast majority of good people, who he compares to white blood cells fighting a virus, all cooperate to “dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak.”
- In Brooklyn, a group of visual artists projected a message of solidarity on the side of the Brooklyn Academy of Music:
- Ezra Klein advises those feeling shattered to go watch a marathon themselves, to see all the best elements of the human spirit such as perseverance, community, and generosity. “The fact that other people can run this far makes us believe we can run that far. It’s a happy thought. It makes us all feel a little bit stronger.”
- That spirit was evident in participants of the race who, uninjured but exhausted after miles of running, flocked to Massachusetts General Hospital to give blood.
- Bostonians’ generosity was apparent in the growing spreadsheet, linked on the Boston Globe’s homepage, filled with the names and contact information of people offering places to stay.
- Elsewhere in the Globe, a simple editorial cartoon depicted sneakers and a single rose, commemorating those injured or killed.
- The New York Times’ editorial solemnly recalled the known facts of the story (still relatively few), then issued a simple declaration of resilience: “The simple joy of a 26.2-mile run was shattered on Monday. But the marathon will be back next year, no matter how much security is required, and the crowds should yell twice as loudly.”
- Behind the scenes at the Times and other news outlets, journalists who had finished or participated in the marathon exhibited that same resilience by staying at the scene to report.
- And at MIT, the so-called Green Building was apparently hacked to reflect the campus’s solidarity with those affected:
