Monday will be one week since the terrorist attacks on the Boston Marathon. The city still bears the scars of that attack as do her people. Like many, I have been struggling to make sense of it all. As a Christian, I know that evil reigns in this world and that the evil one is a seductress and is constantly working to gain our souls. We not only need to be vigilant against harm to our physical bodies, but we also need to be vigilant against harm to our souls.
I was captivated by the events as they unfolded on live television. I took a break in the action around 6:00 pm for our Friday evening prayer service. As I mentioned on Facebook on Monday, when we prayed “for those who hate us and those who love us” it became real again, there are people who hate us!
Then the events took a turn. The news was reporting they had the second suspect and they were moving in. A lump formed in my stomach as each second ticked by and the police moved in closer. Reporter’s voices were shaking as shots and explosions were heard. What we were witnessing was not taking place in some far off land but right here, in Watertown Massachusetts.
Then he was captured alive! At great risk to themselves they wanted to catch the second suspect alive so we might learn something from him and that we might bring him to justice. Yes justice, not vengeance, but justice.
As I was reflecting on the events latter that night and yesterday I was thinking about what separates us from those who wish to do us harm, that is the rule of law. When the first subject was killed, we did not drag his body through the streets. We did not post the picture of his dead body on the news or the internet. He was removed from the place of his death and brought somewhere, and he will be buried in a grave, not thrown on the side of the road.
Likewise, when the second suspect was captured, immediately after the scene was secured, medical personnel moved in. They did what they have been trained to do, proved the best care to the patient right in front of them. He was transported to one of the best hospitals in Boston, the same place many of his victims were taken, and he received the care he needed to save his life. We did not withhold treatment; in fact we gave him the best treatment available. He was treated as a human being and that is what separates us from those who wish to destroy us!
The attack on innocent people is heinous and there is no excuse for what was done. He will be given an attorney, at cost to the people of the United States. He will be tried under the rule of law and the Constitution of the United States of America and, if found guilty, he will face whatever punishment is allowed under that law. That is what separates us from those who wish to destroy us.
Yesterday, at Fenway Park, the Boston Red Sox honored those who risked their lives and those who were injured and lost their lives. Less than a week after the attack, we had those responsible, one was dead and one will face justice. We unfurled a large American flag and everyone in the park sang our National Anthem, then we played America’s Game.
I have heard it said a number of times, we were knocked on the mat on Monday, but we got back up, we got mad, and we got the guys who did this. We did it under the law and that is what separates us from those who tried to kill us!
America is a great country and I have never been prouder to be a resident of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the United States of America than I was on Friday night when it came over the police scanner, “we got him!”
America is about honor, it is about family, it is about all that is good about humanity, and that is what separates us from those who try to kill us!
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