Writing “anniversary” this weekend is too celebratory. It’s the last word to use when recalling the heartless bombing at the Boston Marathon a decade ago
Anniversary is for the Fourth of July or a wedding day, unless you’re divorced.
Words matter and the running of the marathon tomorrow is an example of the resilience and determination of this city — not about two Chechen terrorists who brought anguish to the finish line.
It’s not an anniversary — it’s a day when we double down on what it means to be a Bostonian. We’re a tough bunch. The weather can be crazy and beautiful — sometimes on the same day. Our loyalty can be obnoxious or admirable. We can be guarded or genuine, depending on the occasion.
The bombs that went off on Boylston Street 10 years ago yesterday shattered lives and resulted in a deadly week as cowards Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev attempted to run. They didn’t get past the gauntlet of police who drew the line in Watertown.
Dzhokhar Tsarnaev even ran over his own brother when he drove away from the bullets that night only to be found cowering in a boat in a backyard not far away. He’s now locked up like a rat in a SuperMax in Colorado. His death sentence is still stuck in an appeals court, but he no longer matters.
What does count is all that went right. That’s what is being celebrated this weekend.
Tom Grilk, the executive director of the Boston Athletic Association that day, put it best this week when speaking to the Herald.
“A lot of ordinary people were citizen heroes that day,” he said. “In a profoundly good way, society responded.”
He will never forget the Army lieutenant colonel and volunteer who turned back into the bomb zone against the wishes of the police to help save a man’s life who was bleeding to death on the sidewalk. Other heroes did the same up and down Boylston Street.
Boston is brave to its core. In every crowd, you can find those who will rise up when needed most. The city is not short on tough people — I truly think those are Herald readers. Just give it to them straight and they’ll make up their own minds.
That’s what this weekend is about. Our city, or as Big Papi so perfectly put it, “Our (expletive) city,” will be looking out for the next bottom-feeder trying to hurt innocent men, women and children.
If we could turn back time, they’d be a line of us willing to take on the Tsarnaev brothers before they even got near the marathon finish line.
A few years after the bombings, the Herald wrote about a boxer who sparred with Tamerlan Tsarnaev. Edwin Rodriguez, 27 at the time, said his encounter would have taken a dramatic turn if he knew what we all do now.
The No. 2-ranked super middleweight in the world told us: “I wasn’t trying to kill him; we were just sparring. But I would have if I knew he was that evil and a coward.”
That’s what matters today on this solemn weekend. Run hard, marathoners. The rest of us will be cheering you on.