I had no immediate reaction upon hearing the news of the Boston Marathon bombing. I associate marathons with vigor, exuberance and optimism. I thought of marathons with imagery of legs pounding the pavement and arms propelling bodies forward. I did not associate it with terror and with limbs being torn off bodies. Thus, when I read grisly details last Monday, my brain just stopped for a few seconds, unsure of what to do and what to reach for. I had automated responses for typhoons and catastrophes. I knew how to receive news for a loved one falling sick. But for this, I had neither words nor images.
The Boston Marathon is steeped in history and significance. It is the world’s oldest annual marathon, having its genesis in 1897 after the first marathon competition of the 1896 Summer Olympics. It is massive, being one of the six World Marathon Majors and attracts as much as 500,000 spectators. It is held every third Monday of April or on Patriots Day. This American civic holiday commemorates the anniversary of the battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. These were the first two battles of the American Revolutionary War. In current times, “Marathon Monday” also means a three-day weekend for American families, a time to reconnect and regroup the family and loved ones. It represents a connection with the times of Athens past and with speed and endurance records reset by the tenacity of the human spirit.
It has become a platform for the changing idea of what an athlete should look like. The Boston Marathon shows that an athlete is no longer of a certain mold. An athlete can be a middle-aged woman, a long-limbed gazelle of a man from Kenya or one who makes strides in a wheelchair. This marathon has come to represent POSSIBILITY. It also became the perfect venue to sow fear.
They did not succeed. Michael Rogers, a Jesuit scholastic in Rome and a Boston native wrote to Dzhokhar Tsarnaev:
“Dear Dzhokhar, you failed because Boston was neither bowed nor afraid. You set off a bomb, and the city gave blood for victims. You escaped initial capture and the city opened its doors to strangers. You were at large and making more bombs, and we gathered in prayer at Harvey Park and the Cathedral. You went on a rampage, and people stayed home in an orderly fashion and opened their homes to the police during the search. Dear Dzhokhar, you failed because light cast out the darkness, and the man who knew that his boat just didn’t look right wasn’t afraid to call it in to the police.”
One of the most wrenching photographs of the Boston Marathon bombing is that of Carlos Arredondo. In the picture, Carlos Arredondo’s cowboy hat is askew because he is clearing the way for a wheelchair that carries Jeff Bauman. Jeff Bauman is deathly gray and close to death because the bomb has just ripped off both of his legs. Carlos Arredondo is running with the paramedics and he is also holding Jeff Bauman’s femoral artery.
Carlos’ story is also of how light eclipses the darkness. His firstborn son, Alexander is killed during his second tour of duty in Najaf, Iraq. He receives the news of the death on his 44th birthday. Carlos douses himself with gasoline and subsequently suffers burns one-fourth of his body. He and his wife both spend time as psychiatric patients to recover from the tragedy. Seven years later, his second son commits suicide after battling depression and addiction. Yet, Carlos and his wife became activists for peace and became a regular face in anti-war protests. All these events led him to his actions on the morning of the Boston Marathon. He moved TOWARD the carnage and became an unexpected face for courage.
And how does this become significant for us, Ms. Faith Factor? How is Boston relevant to Cebu and the Philippines? The answer lies in the vote we will make in two weeks. We have the power to choose leaders who have their hands on our country’s resources and dictate our future’s direction. Are we going to elect persons who choose light over darkness? Or are we going to choose those who have kissed the most babies and sung the most catchy songs? I would choose very, very carefully.
As for the Boston marathon, the associated imagery has changed. I remember the 2012 Boston Marathon for its heroes.