Explosions at Boston Marathon
- Thread starter urb1
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We don't go out of our way to show our kids things like this but they will eventually hear about it (on the bus usually). When they do, as in the Newtown shootings, we just talk to them about it and they are usually more 'adult' about it than most adults. But, I did see this yesterday and thought it was pretty cool:View attachment 19609
The Boston Globe (@BostonGlobe):
UPDATE Governor Patrick: No unexploded bombs found at marathon, only explosives were 2 bombs that went off
UPDATE Governor Patrick: No unexploded bombs found at marathon, only explosives were 2 bombs that went off
Agree.
Probably the part that stood out the most to me was when someone asked if the people in critical condition were going to be ok. He replied with something along the lines of, "Well, they're not ok. That's not what critical condition means......."
I appreciated that he didn't sugar coat it, just spoke in terms of matter-of-fact.
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I'm sure some kids are more sensitive to it than others. Especially if its the first time they're experiencing something like this. I don't remember crying for hours, but I definitely remember not really being able to process the OKC bombing when I was about 5. And I'm not sure if this being so close in time to Newtown would make this easier or harder to deal with as a child.
The only benefit of the doubt I think you can give those people is that , subconsciously, they're trying to keep themselves from becoming desensitized to these tragedies. If you can stretch and find some personal connection to it, it keeps it from becoming just another piece of news. (Note: this benefit of the doubt does not extend to people trying to make a political point less than 24 hours after a tragedy. Screw those ********)
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I intentionally didn't change my car radio away from NPR last night when I took my 8 year old to gymnastics. I want her to hear about it when I can be there to explain it to her rather than getting some nut job's perspective on it. You can't get away from them. Heck they are even in this thread.
Talked to my buddy this morning who has run Boston several times and he said the national guard presence and bomb sniffing dogs are a common occurence there. Nothing different about yesterday. The guy in that story likely hadn't done a big city marathon before.
Cyclonepride
Thought Police
After 9/11, I talked to my son's 1/2 sister about what had happened, and it was difficult, but I think it is necessary to at least discuss it with a child who is old enough to understand (my son was three at the time, so he was oblivious). Obviously, an overly emotional parent does not help the situation, and would actually enhance fear of the event, so I had to collect myself and decide what needed to be said before mentioning it. I can't remember exactly what was said other than I told her what had happened, let her know it was a rare event that happened far away, and that it was something that would be talked about a lot, but it wasn't something she had to fear. Not sure if that was perfect or anything, but I felt it needed to be discussed, as it was discussed at school (and kids will believe absolutely everything that other kids say at school, so who knows what stories were floating around).
According to the Boston Globe doctors pulled out ball bearings and nails. Sick ******* bastards.
There was a lot of debris and structures in the area so it doesn't necessarily mean it was from the bomb, maybe it was, but maybe not.
- Mar 27, 2006
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That's basically what Eric Rudolph did for the Atlanta Olympic bombing. He had an explosive device, and he put a tupperware container full of shingling nails on top of it, so when it went off, the nails became shrapnel. Just a sick POS.
Yeah some random guy could have thrown away his old nails and ball bearings in a trash can. He probably feels pretty terrible right now.
It is hard to weed out the people seeking to find an attachment or personal connection to an event like what happened yesterday in an effort to gain attention or sympathy from other people. In the big picture we are all attached or have a personal connection to an event like yesterday because we are all Americans and we are all human beings. I think every American (excluding the Westboro nutjobs) and many people around the world are expressing signs of grief in one way or another. Personally I was horrified at what happened, you feel sadness for what happened to the victims, you feel helpless, you feel anger, etc...
It's really kind of pathetic that it takes events like this to make a lot of us remember that we are a part of something much larger then ourselves. I know I am guilty of this because I forget too.
I talked with my 8 year old daughter last night and we watched the local newscast about what had occurred. The local news was much more "sanitized" in that it was primarily interviewing people with some connections to Boston and the race, those with relatives participating and such. This gave her a connection to empathize with how this event effects peoples lives without overdoing the graphic nature of the death and dsimemberment stuff. I hate having to talk about this stuff at all with her, and I wish the world wasn't the way it was for her sake, but the future...sadly...is going to include all too much of these kinds of events so I guess its necessary to start understanding the meaning of these attacks.
My wife teaches at a school, and daughter attends, that is about 80% muslim/hindu (sadly many Americans won't distinguish if passions get whipped up by terrorism) so I worry a lot about reprisal violence if this turns out to be Al Qaeda and/or Islamic terror. And I appreciate and understand Clone52's concerns about equating all muslims with the nuts who do this sort of thing...though he does greatly understate the support for this kind of terror in some parts of the Islamic world. But as Americans we must keep our focus and the aim of justice squarely on those who are guilty of this evil, not on law abiding and decent muslim families living among us who want PRECISELY the same things the rest of us want...safety, freedom, success and happiness for our families. So whoever ends up being guilty of these crimes, we've got to keep reminding ourselves that guilt does not spread by religious association...be it with Islam or the idiots of radical Christian churches.
Here endeth the sermon.
My wife teaches at a school, and daughter attends, that is about 80% muslim/hindu (sadly many Americans won't distinguish if passions get whipped up by terrorism) so I worry a lot about reprisal violence if this turns out to be Al Qaeda and/or Islamic terror. And I appreciate and understand Clone52's concerns about equating all muslims with the nuts who do this sort of thing...though he does greatly understate the support for this kind of terror in some parts of the Islamic world. But as Americans we must keep our focus and the aim of justice squarely on those who are guilty of this evil, not on law abiding and decent muslim families living among us who want PRECISELY the same things the rest of us want...safety, freedom, success and happiness for our families. So whoever ends up being guilty of these crimes, we've got to keep reminding ourselves that guilt does not spread by religious association...be it with Islam or the idiots of radical Christian churches.
Here endeth the sermon.
Based on the fact that no terrorist organization has claimed responsibility yet, I wouldn't be surprised at all if it's a domestic terrorist, some nutjob who is ****** off at the government. Yesterday was Tax Day.
I wouldn't be surprised if its some nut job trying to make a point that he doesn't need guns to hurt people and banning them won't do a damn thing.
