Note: The seeds of this week’s inspiration were planted on Monday evening in the aftermath of the Boston Marathon bombings. I actually began composing this piece Wednesday and yesterday. As with any fluid story, events continue to unfold. By yesterday evening law enforcement personnel released pictures of two individuals suspected of perpetrating this act of terror. Then, overnight police confronted and engaged them. Now, as of this morning one of the suspects is dead and a massive manhunt is underway for the other. Most likely our national focus will now turn to the “who” and “why” and that is understandable and appropriate. But, I believe the more cogent message remains that whenever the darkness of evil descends upon us, goodness in the visage of the caring and selfless hands of our fellow neighbors inevitably reach into that darkness, to pull those of us afflicted back into the light.
“…if anyone slew a person … it would be as if he slew the whole people; and if any one saved a life, it would be as if he had saved the life of the whole people…” – The Qu’ran
Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. once said, “I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality. This is why right, temporarily defeated, is stronger than evil triumphant.” In the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings on Monday, it is quite possible that many people around the world might be questioning the veracity of that statement, but that is because our collective focus is riveted on the heinous act that was perpetrated and the devastation it caused. Acts of evil incite us to think in terms the maximum degree of fear and retribution imaginable.
I confess, my initial reaction to these now all too frequent acts of terror is to wish upon the perpetrators punishment and suffering well beyond that which they produced. I know that I’m not alone in such thoughts, but evil cannot be conquered by reciprocal evil. St. Paul entreated us not to be overcome by evil, but, rather, that we overcome evil with good. And despite the cloud of darkness that descended upon Boston on Monday, there innumerable rays of beautiful light that emanated from the scores of good people who, with little to no thought of themselves, rushed into that maw of evil to offer relief and solace to those victimized. Here is just a few of the many tales of goodness and selfless heroism shown that day:
Carlos Arredondo’s actions on Monday have perhaps garnered the most national attention. He attended the Boston Marathon as a way to honor his son who was killed in Iraq. But after the explosions, the mourning father channeled his grief into heroism when he tended to wounds that resembled the ones that claimed his boy’s life.
Lance Cpl. Alexander S. Arredondo died in Iraq in 2004 in a firefight in Najaf and his other son, Brian, who battled years of depression after his brother died, committed suicide in 2011.
But once the mourning father, turned peace activist, saw the bloody carnage, he immediately ripped away the snow fence and scaffolding that separated him from the struggling victims and started helping the critically injured.
“My first reaction was to run toward the people,” he told ABC. “There was so much commotion and a lot of people running away. I was one of the first to help people and God protected me. It was horrific.”
In one stunning photo (shown above) that’s become an iconic image of the incredible heroism that emerged, Arredondo appears to be pinching closed a severed artery from the thigh of a victim who lost both of his legs. He also used his clothes and towels to help keep the injured spectator from bleeding out.
“I kept talking to him. I kept saying, ‘Stay with me, stay with me,’ ” Arredondo told the Portland Press Herald.
Another example of goodness that emanated from the darkness of Monday involved a group of 15 active-duty soldiers from the Massachusetts National Guard who walked the marathon on Monday, wearing their fatigues and carrying 40 pounds of gear on their backs, to honor their fallen comrades and to raise funds for charity. But after the explosions struck, the runners raced into action to help, despite the fact that some were overwhelmed by the carnage they witnessed.
“I did a count and told the younger soldiers to stay put,” said Lieutenant Stephen Fiola of the 1060th Transportation Company, who worked with the Military Friends Foundation to organize the group’s participation in the marathon. “Myself and two other soldiers, my top two guys in my normal unit, crossed the street about 100 yards to the metal scaffoldings holding up the row of flags. We just absolutely annihilated the fence and pulled it back so we could see the victims underneath. The doctors and nurses from the medical tent were on the scene in under a minute. We were pulling burning debris off of people so that the medical personnel could get to them and begin triage.”
Responding to a news reporter referring to him and his fellow soldiers as heroes, Fiola responded modestly, “”We had some sort of an influence, at least in helping the nurses get to the wounded and helping calm people down. Speaking about the events of the day, he said, “It’s one of those things that makes you go home and kiss everyone in your family.”
Laura Wellington, a runner in the Monday’s marathon, was half a mile from the finish line when the explosion went off.
In shock near the finish line, as Wellington recalls, “At that moment, a couple walking by stopped. The woman took the space tent off her husband, who had finished the marathon, and wrapped it around me. She asked me if I was okay, if I knew where my family was. I reassured her I knew where they were and I would be ok. The man then asked me if I finished, to which I nodded “no.” He then proceeded to take the medal off from around his neck and placed it around mine. He told me, “You are a finisher in my eyes.” I was barely able to choke out a “thank you” between my tears. Odds are I will never see this couple again, but I’m reaching out with the slim chance that I will be able to express to them just what this gesture meant to me.”
According to ABC News, off-duty trauma surgeon David King, who participated in the marathon and was resting when the explosions occurred, immediately rushed to Massachusetts General to help conduct surgeries on blast victims. Dubbed a “hero doctor,” King compared the injuries he saw Monday to those he saw in war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan. There were also reports about the hundreds of people, many of them runners who had completed the exhausting 26.2 mile race, who flocked to nearby hospitals to donate blood.
Michelle Day was less than half a mile away from the finish line when she heard the booms, followed by sirens. Police told her that the race was over, that she needed to leave the area.
I started walking. I don’t know where. Finally I saw a lady entering her apartment. I said, “I don’t know where to go. I’m cold. Can I just sit inside your doorway?”
She invited me in. “Come inside,” she said. I insisted on sitting on her stairs. She hugged me and treated me like I was her own child. I couldn’t climb the stairs so she ran up and down bringing me a drink. A sweatshirt. A blanket. Her phone to make phone calls. Offered me money for a cab or a train.
“Why are you doing this?” I asked.
“Because that’s what I do! That’s what you’re supposed to do when something like this happens! What do you need!? Do you want some tea?”
She was the sweetest, nicest, kindest person I’ve ever met. I would have frozen if not for her. I would have cried and been lost if not for her. I went back outside and started walking. She had gone upstairs and I never had a chance to thank her.
If I hadn’t stopped at that medical tent I would have finished. But who knows what would have happened.
Today, I Googled her and emailed her. She said yes, it was her. I thanked her, said I’d never forget her kindness, and asked how I could return her things to her. She said, just stay strong and keep running, and that’s thanks enough for her. She was just glad I emailed her and that I was OK.
Finally, Patton Oswald, a comedian and blogger, posted this message to his Facebook page on Monday and it instantly went viral:
I remember, when 9/11 went down, my reaction was, “Well, I’ve had it with humanity.”
But I was wrong. I don’t know what’s going to be revealed to be behind all of this mayhem — one human insect or a poisonous mass of broken sociopaths.
But here’s what I DO know. If it’s one person or a HUNDRED people, that number is not even a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a percent of the population on this planet. You watch the videos of the carnage and there are people running TOWARDS the destruction to help out. This is a giant planet and we’re lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in a while, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they’re pointed towards darkness.
But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evildoers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We’d have eaten ourselves alive long ago.
So when you spot violence, or bigotry, or intolerance or fear or just garden-variety misogyny, hatred or ignorance, just look it in the eye and think, “The good outnumber you!”
“Dare to reach out your hand into the darkness, to pull another hand into the light.” ~ Norman B. Rice
Have an AWE-full weekend!
William J. “Bill” Bacque’