When the Hurt Hits Home

It has been a little more than a week since the Boston Marathon bombing attack, and the nation is still reeling. Images of blown-off limbs, blood-spewing wounds, and horror-struck faces continue to dominate the Internet, while the situation of the alleged bomber has been closely monitored by all major news networks and newspapers.It is during trying times like these that all facets of human nature are truly revealed. We have seen the obvious evil of the bombers who, for whatever misguided reason, took the lives of three innocent people, and injured many more. Perhaps the most chilling image is that of the 19-year old suspect who knowingly placed a pressure-cooker bomb in front of Martin Richard, an 8-year -old boy who has become the face of the nation’s sorrow. But where the worst of human nature is present, so is the best. The stories of the marathon runners who finished the race but kept running to the hospital to donate blood to the victims are testaments to human decency and goodness. We have seen the resilience and unity of Boston during the emotional national anthem ceremony at the TD Garden before a Bruins game; yet we have also seen the widespread ignorance of many Americans from the racist, religiously intolerant and hateful messages on Twitter and other social networks.Back on campus, the bombing has cast its dark shadow over the normally insulated Exeter bubble. There had been members of the community at the marathon itself who witnessed the incident. Many others had family members living in or near the Boston area. However, while the Academy was hit by the same panic and grief as the entire nation, the discussion on campus about the incident has been significantly different, compared to the general American public’s response.Just hours after learning about the bombing, many students, international ones in particular, immediately pointed to other bombings in Syria and Iraq that happened on the same day, which took the lives of dozens of civilians. They argued that bombings and tragedies are happening everywhere but they are never reported or publicized to such an extent by the media. Some students with more personal connections to the Boston bombing took offense to this seemingly nonchalant response. What ensued was a heated debate, particularly through social media.Still, despite flaring tensions in these discussions, I saw a certain amount of acknowledgement and acceptance to the opposition on both sides. This has led me to believe that we can harness our Harkness ability and Exeter’s gift of diversity to learn an important lesson from each other. Since we are trained at Exeter to think globally and are surrounded by students from "all corners," most of us are aware of the atrocities that happen around the world on a daily basis. However, very few of us have actually felt the impact of such a tragedy on a personal level, until now. Watching a friend frantically call his parents to see if they are safe is an infinitely more intense experience compared to reading about the number of deaths in a car bombing incident thousands of miles away.We must realize that it is in human nature to care more deeply about tragedies closer to home, but we must also acknowledge that horrific incidents are indeed happening everywhere, and are not getting the same level of attention simply because of their locations. Now that some of us have had just had a glimpse of what it is really like to be personally invested in a tragedy, we may finally can begin to understand how people everywhere deal with these kinds of heartbreaks.By combining our global awareness with the emotions we have felt or observed due to our proximity with an actual act of terror, we must not only recognize the tragedies that are happening around the world, but also develop compassion for the people involved in them. They must no longer be seen as just numbers and figures, but as actual people just like us with emotions who must deal with terrible ordeals. Only then can we begin to care. If we were to take anything away from the inspirational speech of Mr. Nicholas Kristof, it would be that conflict resolution starts with compassion.So while we mourn for those deceased and pray for those injured in the Boston bombing, let us not forget that somewhere in the world, someone else is also mourning for their deceased and praying for their injured and loved ones.