I am going to talk about something that happened to me a while back. Above you see pictured one of my favorite cities in the world, Boston. Last year I spent April, May, and part of June in this amazing city. I didn't think I would like it much when I first decided to go up there for my job. I thought I would become a human popsicle to be honest. We southerners do not do well in the cold. I got over that soon though because the people I was with were amazing and the job I was doing was something I really believed in.
Boston is an amazing city. It's very different from DC and New York and, even, my native Virginia Beach. It's beautiful in a dingy sort of way. It's very old feeling. The people there are kind, but also tough as nails. It's a liberal's paradise too. I spent time there in one of my former job's headquarters working on our summer recruitment project. Turns out I am really good at convincing people that canvassing and fundraising is important. I loved what I was doing every day.
While I was there the organization I worked with picked up a contract to petition for the American Lung Association in a few of our cities to get signatures in support of a bill that would work to decrease sulfur emissions in cars, which are a leading cause in asthma in young children. One of those cities was Boston. We had the perfect opportunity. The Boston Marathon was that week and we would make a killing because who cares more about clean air than runners who depend on it and their families? No one really.
So on Marathon Monday we were out at different parts of the route talking to people. People were really responsive and it was pretty fun. A nice change from being stuck in the office all day. The day went on. I spoke to so many people that day. People waiting for their loved ones to cross the finish line, old marathon veterans, the runners themselves, people who came from all over to watch or participate. It was amazing. I even saw some re-enactors in full colonial dress with muskets and buckled shoes.
That's why when I heard a loud BOOM!! come from a few blocks away I thought it was a cannon. It startled me a bit, but I assumed it was just some re-enactment stuff. I decided to go check on my other canvassers anyway. I find one of them as I walk up the street and she asked me what happened. I said "Oh I think it was just a cannon." Then she told me to turn around. There was smoke billowing up from 3 blocks away. That's when I decided we needed to find the rest of our group. I still remember thinking "How is this happening in Boston? I'm not in DC, what is this." We found them and upon further discussion decided to head back to the office. All we knew was that there was an explosion at the finish line and it was probably a better idea to leave the area. We started walking in the direction of the office and at one point got caught in something of a stampede. People got startled and started running. We got through a barricade and got out of the main body of people as soon as we could and headed for Boston Commons. We tried calling our office but the cell lines were shut down because far too many people were trying to call on them.
We watched families find each other. People walk almost in a daze. Others crying and visibly shaken. I held the hand of one of our canvassers the entire walk back. I didn't want to lose anyone if people started running again. I probably needed the comfort too. Maybe she did. I remember feeling my phone vibrate and there being a notification from the Virginian-Pilot (before NY Times or BBC or Al Jazeera) that there had been an explosion at the Boston Marathon. We made it back to the office safely. We made it upstairs and no one knew what had happened yet. I had gotten a call from one of my coworkers who worked on the upper floor of our office and frantically told someone to call her and tell her we were okay. I almost walked upstairs to do it myself. I made the calls that needed to be made. Told my parents I was okay. Told my sisters. Told my friends in the DC office who had been freaking out. Then I went back to work.
They brought in a psychiatrist the next day to talk to us and make sure we were okay. We talked about how we felt and what our reactions were. I stayed after because I was a little confused. I asked the psychiatrist why I didn't feel more scared. Why I felt okay just a day later. He told me it was because I had handled it. I talked to people about it. He told me I was more prepared than others for this by being a military brat who lived through 9/11 and having gone to high school so close the Virginia Tech. I had dealt with high stress situations before and I knew what to do for my psyche to handle it. I'm not sad to hear this, but it's a little weird to be told that you've lived such an eventful life that you can handle being so close to a bombing.
Here's the reality of what happened. Two brothers, who happened to be radicalize muslims, planted bombs at the Boston Marathon finish line. Those bombs went off injuring a large amount of people even killing a few. The people of Boston took no time to run in and help those people. They picked people up and carried them to the hospital. The runners who were still coming in didn't stop there. They ran straight to the hospital to give blood. People opened up their businesses and homes to complete strangers. Life went on. The bad guys were caught. Boston is the toughest city I've ever been to. Tough as nails. It was hit and stood back up to lay its own punches.
To this day I still get emotional when I read about it or people remember it on TV or online. I can't handle the sound of cannons. Recently, at the Virginia Gubernatorial Inauguration, I did not realize they were going to set off cannons and the first one nearly sent me into a panic attack. My intern let me squeeze her hand through the whole thing. The whole time I was hoping they weren't going to set them off for the number of governors we've had (it was the 72nd Gubernatorial Inauguration). I like many others will live with that experience my whole life. It's the closest I ever been to that kind of traumatic event.
I'm not writing this for sympathy or your praise. I just know that people really don't understand what happened that day if they weren't there. I'm writing this from my eye witness experience so that you can see what it felt like for people and what it looked like from the eyes of a bystander. Do what you will with this, but it has been on my mind since they announced that the case was under way for one of those brothers. People are asking if they are going to ask for the death penalty and so forth. I will be candid with you. I hope they don't. I don't believe in capital punishment and never will. This kid needs help. Give it to him.
So that is all I have to say on this. I never wrote about it before because I seamlessly slipped back into campaign life because my other coping mechanism is to throw myself into my work. So now you know.
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