Shootings in a movie theater, stabbings on a college campus and now bombings at a race in Massachusetts.
I sit here in front of my computer watching my social network feeds fill with reports, remorse and regret about today's attacks in Boston. People wondering what's wrong with the world, who is to blame and how can we prevent things like this in the future. The same questions swirl inside in my head, but I can't shake this feeling of stupefaction. The United States is the land of the free, home of the brave and apparent abode for those who occasionally show empathy for others – assuming they are American, that is.
By no means am I downplaying the gravity of the situation today in Boston. It was a tragedy to learn of the loss of innocent lives and unnecessary injuries inflicted. But what about the hundreds of thousands of other people who die unjustifiably each day?
I can't help but think that if I were living in a country like Syria or Iraq, I would feel slightly insulted by the outcry after the Boston Marathon bombings. The sudden detonation of bombs, the shouts of panic – these are things occurring daily across the globe, yet I hardly see any reactions to these horrors on my Twitter feed. Maybe I'm just not following the right people.
The well-intended thoughts and prayers pouring through the Internet this very minute are bringing Americans closer together, but I'm afraid they are also pushing us farther away from the rest of the world. Whether we notice it or not, we're minimizing the harsh realities that others face on a regular basis with the overwhelming amount of support being shown for Boston. Our reactions are telling the rest of the world that our tragedies are more significant than theirs. But they're not. The innocent death of a marathon runner in Boston is no more horrendous than the unprovoked killing of a doctor in Taiwan, teacher in Peru or librarian in Norway. A life is a life, and innocence is innocence.
People say we're living in a global society, but we're not acting like one. We should be celebrating each other's victories and mourning each other's losses, not continuously distancing ourselves. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by today's bombings in Boston, but also to those hurting and healing everywhere else in this world.
I sit here in front of my computer watching my social network feeds fill with reports, remorse and regret about today's attacks in Boston. People wondering what's wrong with the world, who is to blame and how can we prevent things like this in the future. The same questions swirl inside in my head, but I can't shake this feeling of stupefaction. The United States is the land of the free, home of the brave and apparent abode for those who occasionally show empathy for others – assuming they are American, that is.
By no means am I downplaying the gravity of the situation today in Boston. It was a tragedy to learn of the loss of innocent lives and unnecessary injuries inflicted. But what about the hundreds of thousands of other people who die unjustifiably each day?
I can't help but think that if I were living in a country like Syria or Iraq, I would feel slightly insulted by the outcry after the Boston Marathon bombings. The sudden detonation of bombs, the shouts of panic – these are things occurring daily across the globe, yet I hardly see any reactions to these horrors on my Twitter feed. Maybe I'm just not following the right people.
The well-intended thoughts and prayers pouring through the Internet this very minute are bringing Americans closer together, but I'm afraid they are also pushing us farther away from the rest of the world. Whether we notice it or not, we're minimizing the harsh realities that others face on a regular basis with the overwhelming amount of support being shown for Boston. Our reactions are telling the rest of the world that our tragedies are more significant than theirs. But they're not. The innocent death of a marathon runner in Boston is no more horrendous than the unprovoked killing of a doctor in Taiwan, teacher in Peru or librarian in Norway. A life is a life, and innocence is innocence.
People say we're living in a global society, but we're not acting like one. We should be celebrating each other's victories and mourning each other's losses, not continuously distancing ourselves. My thoughts go out to everyone affected by today's bombings in Boston, but also to those hurting and healing everywhere else in this world.