On April 19th, 1775 British forces moved out of Boston and to the west to confiscate arms and ammunition held by a group of people the Crown considered probably treasonous and most definitely out of control. Early in the day two battles were fought. The first was at the Lexington green, the second was at a bridge in Concord. Given what was to come even in the revolutionary war and certainly in the civil war these actions were minor skirmishes. After the engagement at Concord the British troops began a long and painful retreat to Boston. They were met at nearly every turn in the road by snipers hidden deep in the leafless underbrush who would fire and then fade away into the woods. It is the wet dream of many NRA members to face down Federal troops in just such a manner.
But I digress.
In Massachusetts and Maine, because at the time Maine was a part of Massachusetts, April 19th became a holiday, referred to as "Patriot's Day." As with all holidays politicians and business people got involved and "Patriots Day" was moved to the third Monday of April, no matter what the date.
Here is what happens on "Patriot's Day" in the Commonwealth. No one goes to school, no one goes to work, tens of thousands of people converge on the city of Boston, which is a pretty small place. The Red Sox play a game starting in the morning so that their patrons, in theory, can get out of the stadium and watch the end of a marathon race that was first run over 100 years ago. In short, once the game ends, it is shoulder to shoulder people all through the back bay and Copley Square areas. I know this because I lived in New England for five years and went to a couple of baseball games on "Patriot's Day." 35,000 Red Sox fans, many of whom started drinking around 9am run smack into tens of thousands of Boston marathon fans. At times in Kenmore Square, which is a block or so north of the Green Monster left field fence at Fenway Park, it is hard to even move. People in this large open space are shoulder to shoulder trying to edge there way somewhere, anywhere.
Everyone is happy and excited, unless the Red Sox choked again, but even then it remains a festival the likes of which someone who hasn't been there can't really comprehend.
Today the monsters arrived and blew up two bombs near the finish line of the race. The latest count is 100 plus wounded and two dead, but the list is growing. There were no previous warnings, at least none that authorities are admitting to, and as of last look no one is taking credit for it.
This bullshit has hit a little too close to home for me. In 1995 I was driving a cab and trying to sell a novel to just about any publisher who would give me a dime or two when Tim McVeigh and Terry Nichols blew up the Murrah Federal building in Oklahoma City. I was a twenty minute commute from downtown OKC but the concussion set off car alarms in the parking lot where I was collecting a fare. In 2005, I was sitting in Oklahoma Memorial Stadium with my youngest daughter watching a football game between Oklahoma and Kansas State. Right before half time there was an explosion. Some in the lower deck reported it as sounding like thunder. We were in the upper deck and I knew it was more than that. About 200 yards west of the stadium a young engineering student had blown himself to bits as he sat on a campus bench. To this day no one knows for sure what his real intent was.
Right now, other than mayhem, no one knows what the bomber, or bombers in Boston real intent is. It could well be some demented we must have our guns outfit. After all, McVeigh and Nichols used the 19th of April, "Patriot's Day," as a symbolic date. It could be some off shoot of al-Qaida who finally scored a hit after years of failures. It might be some dummy who thinks stuff like this is fun: just another mutant persona of Jimmy Holmes, or Adam Lanza. And, for all we know, North Korean saboteurs might have pulled the trigger, although that seems remote to the extreme and so incredibly self destructive on Li'l Kim's part that the mind boggles at the notion.
What we do know for sure is that in the midst of all the initial confusion and wild speculation the President of the United States, Barak Hussein Obama has said, " we will find out who did this and we will hold them accountable." This would be the same president who okay'd the hit on Osama bin-Laden.
In other words, ladies and gentlemen, if you're the ones who pulled off this gruesome act of hate keep in mind you can run, but you cannot hide. As of today you have a limited amount of time left on this planet and the clock is running.
CNN interviewed a marathoner who is also an editor at the Washington Post. His name is Vernon Loeb. He said he heard the explosions shortly after he finished the race and then in his words, there was a symphony of sirens.
After the Oklahoma City bombing I picked up a very old African American woman in my cab. We started talking about the attack. I ran through the normal cabbie macho BS. She just shook her head and told me, "All they are trying to do is make you just like them."
True story.
It was the only tip she left me. I've treasured it ever since. I just wish I could keep it in my heart on days like this.
4-15-13
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