It was a beautiful third Monday of April, a spring day. The sun was shining and the city was in festive mood. It was a holiday-Heroes Day, and Marathon Day, the 117th.
The streets were busy; people were coming and going. There were about 27,000 participants in that marathon from all over the world.
At about three o clock, ten minutes before the hour to be precise, about half of the runners had reached the finish line, families were lined up on the sidewalk waiting for their loved ones to cross.
Among them was the Richards family, the mother, two boys and a little girl. It was not very clear if the father was with them or if he was in the marathon. There were differing reports on his whereabouts. The family was very happy as they stood along the sidewalk, eating ice cream.
Then – Boom !!!, chaos!!! Pandemonium!. A thick smoke bellowed in the air adding to the confusion. After a few seconds, another explosion broke out, not far from the first. More chaos!.
Responders volunteers, police officers, firemen, runners on the marathon —-came in droves for the rescue. There on the sidewalk, lay the lifeless body of eight year old Martin Richards., Not far from him was his little sister, her leg shattered. The mother had a head wound. She later underwent brain surgery.
There it was, in a split of a second, the lives of this happy family were brutally shattered, never to be whole again.
There was also Krystel, the 29 year old lass who was there for a friend who ran in the marathon, and a young Chinese student who was enrolled in a Boston school. Their lives were also snuffed. All n all, the last count of the wounded was 264, with 18 of them losing limbs.
This was in Boston, a peaceful city, steeped in proud history, home of many great men and women. This was not in Iraq or Afghanistan or Syria, where carnage was a common event every day. This was a peaceful community of cooperative, responsive, helpful with one another and progressive in the pursuit of individual and common goals.
If this happened in Boston, it can happen in any part of the world. Everyone is susceptible to such tragedy.
This sad event is a reminder to all of us of how fragile life is, no matter who we are, how young or old, how low or high in the strata of society, how good or bad.
We can be high up there in the tower of power and be down in the next minute. We can be robust, active and productive today and gone tomorrow., We can be rolling in luxury and wealth, the envy of others one day and back to dust the next day.
When that moment of leaving this world comes to us, let us remember that we cannot take any of our worldly possessions beyond We leave them to our family or organizations that are close to our hearts. That is why we should have a will.
But there are things we will leave that do not need a will. These are the things that we had done in words and in deeds that would be remembered by those whom we touched in our lives.
I grew up with my grandmother who used to tell me: “If you earn three centavos, spend two and keep one.”
She had been dead for 57 years and I still remember her words.
My father as a very hard-working man who used to tell us his children when we were growing up, “I do not have any wealth to leave you but I will try to have all of you finish school. That will be the inheritance I will leave you.” Bless my father!
When one becomes powerful or a celebrity his comments are often quoted and remembered most of the time. If derogatory or vain, they sometimes cause the downfall of the speaker. One remark is connected to subsequent comments that create a picture of the personality of the celebrity. This later serves as rain that creates a flood enough to destroy.
That eight year old Martin Richards will be remembered for that poster he made and presented in an event which read: “No more hurting people. Peace!!!.
Krystel will be remembered for her smiles. We do not know that Chinese student very well and her relatives have not arrived. We cannot say much about her. Those whom we know or are close to us are remembered for little or big things they did in life, good or bad.
We all hope that we shall be remembered for something good we had done. If not, it could be something that hurt someone. It is sad to note that sometimes, due to our own self-preservation, we utter remarks that would and are not easily forgotten. It is often said that words that hurt are worse than weapons that create wounds. They create emotional wounds that never heal.
In recent years, cyber bullying has caused much heartaches and even suicides. Laws do not seem able to cope in controlling this evil in our midst. Not only are the lives of the victims but also of the perpetrators are being destroyed.
Death is the line drawn between mortality and immortality. Some do not believe in life after death. Whether we believe in immortality or not, our lives in this world will be the measure of what we leave behind and what we shall bring with us, beyond. *****
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