Tag: Patton Oswalt

It’s easy, during a week like this, to be horrified, to be sad, to be scared. It’s natural.

But it’s also easy, if you take a look–as many people are doing–at the other end of terror and tragedy.

There’s Jaimie Muehlenhausen, of California, and common sense mixed with foresight.

There’s the group of Boston College students who said, “We will walk to show that we decide when our marathon ends.”

There’s Joe Andruzzi, Carlos Arredondo, the man with orange juice, the volunteer, the first responders, the woman who opened her doors, the volunteers who came back on Tuesday, the local businesses, the people who offered up their homes via Google Docs, the runners who kept running so they could donate blood.

Whether or not they’re entirely good, there’s Anonymous and their hacking of the Westboro Baptist Church Facebook page:

And there’s the very nature of Boston, as described by Dennis Lehane.

From a continent away, I had the same immediate reaction to Boston that I had to 9/11, and I described it on Facebook:

It’s indelicate, but nevertheless it is my first thought in these situations:

“F%@k those guys.”

I don’t know who they are, or what they want to accomplish, and it doesn’t matter. The very first reaction they get from me is anger.

Later on, when I think about it some more, I want to go home and hug my husband and daughter. But the first thing I do is get angry.

So bring on your terror. You may horrify me, but you don’t scare me.

They don’t scare Boston, either. Don’t let them scare you. Don’t let them limit you. Don’t fall for that.

They’re too small, and we’re too big.