And in Light of A True Tragedy, There is Hope

When I first heard of the tragic events in Boston yesterday I was overcome with intense sadness and grief.

I had been enjoying a morning filled with time catching up with loved ones, meeting with two new clients, and coffee with a friend while discussing how much we love the direction our lives are taking.

It was about 1:30pm and I decided to pop onto Facebook to see what was happening in the social media world --I had a few friends running the Boston Marathon, and I was curious to see how well they had done.  My news feed was, as you can imagine, filled with updates about an explosion going off near the finish line, and then quickly the news of a second explosion followed.  Many friends were posting about our mutual connections who were running that day in Boston, linking to their names and asking for a confirmation to whether or not they were ok (and thank God, they were).  Others were posting about their loss of faith in humanity, and still more were linking to news sites posting images of the horror that was unfolding at the finish line.

I immediately called my mom.  My first thought whenever anything bad happens is to call my mom.  I know there's nothing she can do to stop the tragedy, but if she can't help me feel better, who can?

In times of tragedy it's important to remember that humanity is not lost.  A few individual humans are.  The bombs were set and detonated by individuals, not humanity.

Humanity is the group that jumped in to help without thought, without hesitation, without care or concern for their own safety.  Humanity is the group of runners who completed their 26.2 miles and continued running - straight to the hospital to give blood for victims.  Humanity is the group of service workers who came together to find the other bombs before they went off and hurt more people.  And humanity is the large group of people effected by this tragedy, doing whatever they can to help support those who are hurting, who have lost loved ones, and who are helping... however they can.

Humanity is not lost.  There is hope.

To all those effected by the tragedy in Boston, my heart and prayers poor out to you.