ξ

With the bombings in Boston, it’s hard not to mention the word terror. It is also hard not to walk down State Street and wonder, with every step, will this be the last one? Will I explode on the bus ride home? Will that subway be detonated?

Unfortunately, the residents of Boston and surrounding suburbs have experienced what it’s like to be under attack. Boston and its suburbs were on lockdown April 19 as police officials and SWAT teams searched for ‘suspect No.2.’

While these bombings do not represent the magnitude of Madrid bombings in 2004 or the constant collisions between Israel and Palestine, the safety bubble of most Americans has dematerialized. Three are dead, five have missing limbs and 150 are seriously injured.

“Someone told me after the attacks that we’re fortunate enough to live in a country where this doesn’t happen every day,” said Megan Daley, a senior at DePaul. “But to me, that doesn’t make it any better. All acts of violence should be looked at in the same way, whether it’s here or abroad.”

One of the most haunting images is of Martin Richard, an 8-year-old boy from Boston, holding a sign that says, “No more hurting people. Peace.”

The picture was posted on Facebook by Lucia Brawley, a friend of his former third grade teacher days before his death.

Not only does the image memorialize the fragility of life and its hopeful progression, but it’s also an image of hope we can use to escape.

There’s a small fracture in our Star-spangled spirit,and we recognize those who contributed to the blast.

We become heroes through repetitive pictures and slogans about the lives and limbs donated to estranged mayhem.

For a brief moment we can see the limits of life and the effects of its meaning.

Richard can no longer raise a rumpus in the school yard, and his mother won’t return to greet him.

With the loss of his life, it’s the ideology of peace that keeps broken hearts pumping.

And while we are urged to move on and reconstruct a sensitive and patriotic spirit, we don’t have much of a choice but to heal and forget.