Let’s Give Our Eyes A Break: A Reflection on the Boston Marathon Bombings

This week, 186 South College is participating in Honors Blog Week 2013! Along with other Honors Blogs around the nation, we are focusing on the theme “Dare to Think Bigger.”

Going along with this message, it brings me to what has happened in our world this past week with the bombings in Boston.  I dare to think bigger, along with the rest of the country, in reflecting on these events by trying to make sense of this and in trying to find answers to the multitude of questions we are left with.

Ever since the devastating news broke about the events that occurred during the Boston Marathon on Monday, I’ve been glued to my TV and computer screen to find out more.  Maybe it is the communication major in me, but I felt it was my duty to read about it and constantly check the news, my Twitter feed, and the web for more information every few moments.  Regardless of how absolutely devastating the stories and images were, I still felt I had to keep looking to know more.

But, I couldn’t help but ask myself: “Why?”  Why did I want to keep looking up new information and photos when they all were just getting sadder and more horrifying?  Why did I feel the need to know every single minute detail of such a sickening event?  Why do we as social beings feel the desire to look up and read about such a terrible incident?

As we discussed in my COMM245 class over the course of last week, we have a drive for such graphic images; we simply cannot help ourselves.  It’s like a cycle that will never end; the media will keep giving into our vicious instincts by providing such details of the violent events that occur in our lives.  However, as Boston-bred actress Amy Poehler suggests in her video response, our eyes need a break. “It’s okay to not be looking at what everyone else is looking at all the time, to know what you’re ready to see and not to see and to be okay with letting some things rest in peace,” Poehler states.  (To watch the entire video, click here)

We have to realize that as much as we read stories and look at pictures and watch the news we may never fully understand why this all happened.  As unfortunate as it may seem, bad things happen to innocent people a lot of the time, and it is absolutely unacceptable and contributes to why our world is so messed up these days.  I find it unbearable to think of Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, and Officer Sean Collier never being able to see their friends and family again because of this.  In the coming weeks, as the world tries to make sense of the events, we must learn from what happened to help influence the future so that something of this nature does not affect us again.  Instead of trying to decode the why, we should reflect on the who: both who we lost and who helped save and protect the almost 200 victims.  In doing so, we can be reinvigorated with a sense of hope for the future, as the goodness exhibited helps to revive the nation.

As always, feel free to comment with your own personal reflections or rants as I just did. You’ll be surprised at how relieved you will feel to just let out what you’re thinking.  Remember, Dare to Think Bigger. Also, be sure to read (and comment on) our partner in crime Temple’s posting today! Check them out at http://www.honorslounge.com/.

~Hannah Tattersall