Boston, courage, Essay, longreads, non-fiction

When the Smoke Clears

  Burning-houseWhen the Smoke Clears   The Boston Marathon bombing, the gunning down of small children, a stabbing rampage on a campus, shootings at malls, in homes. The stories just don’t seem to stop coming, making you want to crawl into some dark corner of your room and just withdraw from this race that each day starts to seem less and less human. Often times, we convince ourselves that we are living in the worst of times. And we buy into the feeling of hopelessness and despair that comes with it.   But, I think the biggest area that we often err is in listening too much to the doomsayers, the blamers, the media hype. We listen to them. Its rather hard not to. They are everywhere. On the front page, on the talk radio, on the websites we pull up. They shout loudly, pointing fingers of blame, offering their reasons why this tragedy proves we are doomed. Its the fault of the right, the left, the gays, the feminists, the muslims, the christians, the pagans. Its an utter and complete breakdown in society and it is time we wake up and do something about it.   But. If we turn our head just a little in the other direction to the spot where the smoke is clearing, we begin to see some movements. People rushing into the danger zone to help a total stranger. People running to the hospital to give blood after the finish line. People opening their doors to give a stranger a place to sleep. Restaurants handing out free meals. Stores handing out free supplies. People just simply caring and doing what is right, quietly, tirelessly. Not for fanfare, not to send a message. Just simply because it needs to be done. Simply because when the smoke is clearing, it doesn’t matter if you are right or left, christian or pagan, gay or straight. You just need help. And the vast numbers that rush in to lend that help show that as troubled a race as we are, we are also one of courage and beauty.   When the smoke begins to clear, we need to stop looking at where the spotlight shines, but instead look at what is stepping quietly from the clouds of smoke. We are not living in the worst of times. We are simply living in one of the many bumps in time.  
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