Bombers targeted us all
Running is a quintessentially human activity bursting with life
Women’s marathon world recordholder Paula Radcliffe voiced the question on many lips: “There are some very sick people out there, who would do something like this?”
Whoever he, she or they are, the bombers of the Boston Marathon committed a monstrous act. Targeting an activity — running — that is so quintessentially human and so bursting with life made them, by definition, inhuman and antilife.
The attackers’ identities remain unknown. But that, plus the question “why?” and their motives, didn’t immediately feel quite as important as “how could you?”
How could anyone seek to destroy the simple pleasure of running? What type of person wants death and horror to replace an activity so healthy, one that binds people and communities together, makes them feel good about themselves and which has been a human need and skill, very much part of us, since long before the legend developed of a messenger who ran from the plain of Marathon to Athens in ancient Greece?
The bombers, perhaps as children, must have run at some time in their lives, put one foot in front of another quickly, perhaps even felt those sensations of empowerment and well-being that running can bring. Yet here they murdered, maimed and terrorized people as they were celebrating and exercising this wonderful ability. How sickening. No motives could possibly justify it.
Excuse the angry tone. Although, in truth, no apology is needed. We should all be angry. Because in targeting a sports event, the bombers targeted us all.
Sports are our universal language, a bond that can unite regardless of race or creed. We don’t all pray to the same gods. Our countries and governments might be at odds. But that doesn’t have to matter when you give us a track to run on or a pool to swim in. Even as enemies in war, soldiers have climbed out of their trenches to kick around a ball with one another.
Even watched from afar, the awful images, news updates and rising casualty counts from Boston felt close to home, like this was the type of attack that could have struck anywhere. Anywhere where people congregate to stretch their legs, to run, to jog, to jump, to cycle, to play ball, to compete, to applaud and enjoy the spectacle of people doing all those things. It felt like we all could have been its victims.
Anyone, anywhere, who exercises, who runs, who has run, who knows people who do or who simply likes watching sports could imagine how proud the competitors and their f amilies must have felt to be at the world’s oldest annually contested marathon, a celebration of running since 1897.
It was easy to picture nervous but determined fathers and mothers getting a “you can do it!” kiss from their kids before setting off. Some competitors will have been running to raise money for good causes and have been sponsored and encouraged by coworkers, friends and family. The race organizers’ website says 35 charitable organizations were expected to gain over $11 million from Monday’s marathon.
After the long and unsung hours of training to meet the race’s demanding qualification standards, this was the runners’ moment to shine, to run together with others instead of pounding roads alone. It wasn’t hard to imagine how exhilarated they must have felt after 26 miles (42 kilometres) as they approached the bright yellow line on the tarmac with the word FINISH in big, blue capitals.
That the bombers targeted the finishing straight felt especially cynical, nihilistic and emotionally destructive. Limbs carrying people over the finishing line and then limbs being blown off. Applause replaced by screams. The sporting context made the atrocity only more horrific and unbearable.
Three dead, including an eightyear-old boy, more than 170 wounded and a horrid, unwanted reminder that sports events — f amilyfriendly, popular and relaxed — can, by their very nature, make soft targets for terror. As the director of the Paris marathon pointed out in French sports paper L’Équipe, democracies simply can’t station a police officer behind every spectator.
Nor should we want them to. Organizers of the London Marathon were right to push ahead with their race this coming Sunday. Because we should never cower to evil and twisted minds who would make the communion of sports, our need to test our bodies and to compete, seem like a vulnerability.
Our shared language of sports allowed us to hear and understand Boston’s pain. It made some of us want to go running to show support for the city and to defy those who attacked its inhabitants and us all. It turned all of us into Bostonians. And that is our strength.