The bombing in Boston on April 15th was a
personal affront to me. Boston is a place I am from and a place that I go back
to, not as often as I would like, but as often as I can. Knowing that Boston is
there is a comforting feeling – it is still home though I haven’t lived there
in 55 years. Many of the landmarks have changed and many of them haven’t but my
memories are still with me in their original form.
Copley Square is a very big part of my life. Where the
Marriott is now, I met Bill Russell at a gas station there. There he was in his
1955 Chrysler, the one with the big fins, maroon, as I recall and I was
ecstatic. The license plate said “Boston Celtics 6.”
The bombing in Boston on April 15th was a
personal affront to me. Boston is a place I am from and a place that I go back
to, not as often as I would like, but as often as I can. Knowing that Boston is
there is a comforting feeling – it is still home though I haven’t lived there
in 63 years. Many of the landmarks have changed and many of them haven’t but my
memories are still with me in their original form.
Copley Square is a very big part of my life. Where the
Marriott is now, I met Bill Russell at a gas station there. There he was in his
1955 Chrysler, the one with the big fins, maroon, as I recall and I was
ecstatic. The license plate said “Boston Celtics 6.”
I walked from St. Cecelia and Belvedere Streets through the
rail yards that now are home to the Sheraton Hotel and other establishments, to
my work at Dartmouth Street. I walked through the south part of Copley Square.
Near the end of the day I delivered photos to a building at Boylston near
Berkeley Street. And when it was time to go home I got on the MTA (Now the T) in
front of the library in Copley Square. I can go back to Boston at any time and
follow those footsteps – even now. I have done it twice in the past few years –
with my son and grandsons – who were all born in California. They, too feel a
connection, a tie to Boston. Where did we rent the bikes we rode from the
Finish Line to Kenmore Square and back? Right where bomb number two went off. How dare they!
As we rode the bikes the only fear we had was of the Boston
drivers. That made us stupid but cautious bike riders. We felt the streets as
we pedaled our way around. We saw the beautiful brownstones, the wonderful shops
and thank heaven for the Mandarin Hotel, it was a major pit stop for me.
How dare these maniacs or maniac try to upset the very place
I still call home. How dare they try to hurt other Bostonians and how dare they
kill and maim a kid and other kids who were their target. How dare they!
The bombs went off not far from Sax Fifth Avenue. Not my
place to shop but my place to see my sister-in-law who works there. How dare
they jeopardize her wellbeing and jeopardize a member of my family!
My son and my grandsons are Red Sox fans. These are monsters
I created but nothing like the monsters that someone else created to do harm.
They are Patriots fans that are loyal to the team. The evil that was bestowed
on Patriots Day was an affront to all of us: Bostonians, New Englanders, ex-
Bostonians and good people everywhere.
The young man that died came from Dorchester. That is my
part of Boston. We even have organizations from Dorchester that have members
all over the world. Patriots Day was once called ‘Evacuation Day.” George Washington
threw the British out of Boston from Dorchester Heights. How dare they profane
the day and the event – the Marathon. How dare they!
How dare they! Wherever I go in the world when I hear the
flat “R” I know have a fellow Bostonian. These are good people who lived in a
historic city – history all around us and it was shattered by a bomb blast. How
dare they! These people are not patriots they are scum.
Yes, I take this very personally. But I take any event or
action that puts good people in jeopardy personally. Why is it necessary to create
chaos when no chaos is needed or wanted. How dare they upset the lives of good
people!
I am angry and I am sad and I am taking it personally.
People got hurt beyond anything they ever expected or deserved. People rose the
occasion and that is a very positive thing, an inspiration to everyone. But why
was it necessary? How dare they test our metal? The people rose to the occasion
as heroes as a result of actions by a coward. How dare they, how dare they?
That is my take, you decide!
Post script: The President spoke this morning an Interfaith Service in Boston's South End and he said that to Bostonians, this "is personal."
Post Script 2: One down and one to go. Let's get him and let's have him live a life of incarceration and deprivation and daily terror!
Post Script 3: They got the little bastard and now he will live a life of incarceration, deprivation and terror.
Post Script 4: There is a clamor to try this little bastard in a Military Tribunal and not afford him his constitutional rights. At first blush, it sounds about right but of all the detainees in Guantanamo four have been tried and two are home sipping tea in Yemen while more than 500 terror suspects have been tried in the civil courts and are out of circulation. The bottom line is that
sending bad guys to Guantanamo is being soft on terrorists.
Post script: The President spoke this morning an Interfaith Service in Boston's South End and he said that to Bostonians, this "is personal."
Post Script 2: One down and one to go. Let's get him and let's have him live a life of incarceration and deprivation and daily terror!
Post Script 3: They got the little bastard and now he will live a life of incarceration, deprivation and terror.
Post Script 4: There is a clamor to try this little bastard in a Military Tribunal and not afford him his constitutional rights. At first blush, it sounds about right but of all the detainees in Guantanamo four have been tried and two are home sipping tea in Yemen while more than 500 terror suspects have been tried in the civil courts and are out of circulation. The bottom line is that
sending bad guys to Guantanamo is being soft on terrorists.
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