I’m not gonna try to make sense of what happened at the Marathon, or even try to gather my thoughts about it. I’m just going to sit here and tell you something you probably already know, which is something we’re known to do around here.
We are fine. We’re good. It’ll take a hell of a lot more than that to shake us. Yes, we lost far too much and far too many yesterday, and we grieve for the fallen and their families – but we are still here, and we’re not scared. Far from it. We never have been the type to be scared; and even if we were, we’d never admit it.
What we are is something else, and we’re certainly not afraid to tell you exactly what that is.
We’re thankful, sad, lucky, appreciative, and angry – all at the same time. (Some of us might be a little drunk, too.) We are what we are, and what we always have been: friends, family, and a prideful (and often prickly) people, brought together by a sense of community unlike anywhere else I’ve ever seen.
We are everyone who has ever called this city home: from those of us who’ve lived here all our lives in the houses where our uncles beat the crap out of each other as kids; to those of us who only came here to go to school or to work for a while and moved on, but took some of that trademark snark with us to our new destination. You might leave the city, but this city never leaves you. Whether physically, mentally, or spiritually, we’re all still here, in a way. In a very good way.
That’s what this town does. It sticks with you – so we stick with it, no matter what. We are rabidly and irrationally devoted to this city that we often complain about to each other, but will dive across a table to defend if someone disrespects. And we’re known to be more than a little stubborn & nonsensical about such things.
We don’t ask for your sympathy, for its a trait were not all too familiar with. We just ask you to keep a look out…. and when we find the ones responsible, you probably are going to want to look the other way.
Yes, we’re heated, but we’ll be fine. Yeah, we might really wanna swear and curse and scream, but we know our mothers are keeping an eye on us and are worried sick, so we’ll keep it together – tighter than a studio in a Southie three-decker.
Oh, and whatever you do, don’t miss the 2014 Marathon. We’re gonna put on a SHOW. It wouldn’t surprise me if we replaced the lamp posts along the route with giant middle finger salutes.
We’ll get through this the only way we know how, and we’ll still be here. Why?
Because we’re Boston. That’s why.
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