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 The
Line Separating Sanity from Instanity
Somewhere in the Boston area is a lone killer or a pack of killers who
deliberately staked out a plan to hurt as many people as possible and
to destroy a 116 year old tradition, at least temporarily.
A line of demarcation separates sanity from insanity. Not always
clear, the barely visible line produces judgment calls of what is / is
not insane which can be arguable. Sometimes what lies on the other
side of the line is clearly insane.
We met that line clearly drawn on Boylston Street in Boston on Monday,
April 15, Marathon Day. On one side of theline was a community of
people who come together every year to test themselves (endurance,
training, commitment and the joy of accomplishment), to wish each other
well and to simply enjoy the company of human kind.
On the other side of the line was one or more people who deliberately
planned an execution, one to be carried out at random and to inflict
the greatest amount of harm with an element of complete surprise
despite the best efforts of police and bomb-sniffing dogs.
Planned To Create Mayhem
The bombs that were planted that day consisted of explosives in
ordinary pressure cookers. One had shards of metal and ball bearings;
one was packed with nails. Imagine what this person(s) must be like as
they prepared the vessels without hesitation, without compassion, with
no guilt and no compunction, knowing the pots would turn into an
intense blast of sharp metallic particles flying everywhere at high
velocity and high pressure.
When I learned the bombs were packed inside pressure cookers, I didn't
understand. It couldn't be, I thought. The same pressure-cookers that
Mom used for making meals and from which the cooking smells wafted so
strongly after the lids had been carefully opened. It couldn't be the
same pressure-cookers that I can no longer use because the gaskets are
worn and won't hold pressure. It couldn't be new expensive
pressure-cookers for who would spend money just to destroy them?
But, yes, it was.
Forensics experts leave no possibility unturned as they plan
(theoretically) to comb the area where the blast occurred starting at
the center point (ground zero) and working their way out concentrically
- looking at all the stores where such pressure-cookers might have been
purchased (or was it online? Amazon?). But they won't stop at my
house and not at my yard sale. In fact, not at a yard sale at all. The
killer(s) needed to make sure the gaskets were tight to inflict the
greatest puncture and ripping wounds possible.
Heartfelt Sorrow for the
Victims
A candle burns on the stoop of the Richard family's home in Dorchester
with the word "Peace" written in chalk on the front walk while
eight-year old Martin Richard lies in repose and his sister and mother
recover from serious wounds.
There were nails sticking out of a little girl's body.
Someone knows who did this - someone other than the actual
perpetrator(s). It is likely, law enforcement officials predict, that
the individual was at the Marathon and the body and face are contained
in hundreds of photos and videos. Which one? It is likely that the
killer knew the Marathon well and the behavior of the celebratory
crowds, could take the best advantage of the dense party atmosphere and
joyful chaos.
The bombings killed Martin Richard, 8, of Dorchester; Krystle Campbell,
29, of Arlington, and Boston University graduate student Lingzu Lu, a
native of Shenyang, China, who was in her 20s.
The blasts wounded over 170 people. The blasts created a terror zone,
a war zone.
Somewhere today, beyond the vision of ordinary eyes, lacking the smells
of burnt flesh and fresh blood, with demonic thoughts locked inside the
head and heart, walks a destructor who sees us mourning, sees the pain
and is glad or, maybe, has felt remorse.
In Uphams Corner on the day after, people in the streets talked about
their pain, their confusion, their anger and their heartfelt sorrow.
Several people wanted instant death delivered. Some people said our
world was F'Up. Most people offered prayers and condolences. For what
else is there but support, coming together in love, even for the one
who planned it all. May s/he/they also rest in peace.
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Posted: April 17, 2013 Nancy J Conrad
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