A week ago Boston marked the six-month anniversary of the Marathon bombing.
That was to be expected but it seems there’s an observance of the April 15 bombing every day in Greater Boston. Every public event, from July 4 to the baseball playoffs, is accompanied by a reference to the bombing.
It’s too much. In no way would I detract from the suffering of those families directly affected by the carnage on Boylston Street. For them, the attack is an everyday hardship, an everyday sadness, an everyday anger. Not so for the rest of us; most of us were not involved in a meaningful way.
In the immediate aftermath, commentators pronounced Boston would never be the same. At the time, I thought it was a ridiculous statement. And it was. Look at New York City. Is it the same as before 9/11? As a city, yes. A visitor to Manhattan sees the fabulous New York of imagination. The city is thriving, Broadway is humming, the elaborate security apparatus put in place after the attack on the twin towers is not noticeable even though we know it is there.
What happened in New York was cataclysmic. Three thousand lives were lost. The city’s economy was rocked. Tourists stayed away. Businesses that relied on the financial district or on people eager to buy a piece, however small, of New York, were left staggering for a few years.
But New York is back. The scar in lower Manhattan is becoming a place of beauty and peace, where the thousands who can never fully recover from 9/11 can visit and feel close to their loved ones.
The scars in Boston are personal, not landscape altering. Some restaurants and stores damaged in the bombing took a couple months to reopen but, for the most part, Boylston Street showed few hints of the attack when June flowers bloomed and visitors streamed to the city.
I understand the need to acknowledge those who suffered grievous loss and to recognize those first responders who managed to keep the disaster from being even worse. We have done that – at Boston Garden, at the Hatch Shell on the Esplanade, at Fenway Park and Gillette Stadium and in countless other venues. It was heartening and heartbreaking to see little Jane Richard, who lost a leg and a brother on April 15, sing the national anthem as the Red Sox made their run to the World Series.
But I ponder whether the public commemorations bother those who are fighting daily to recover a sense of normalcy.
Last month I traveled in Spain and wondered if, when people heard where I was from, the bombing would come up. It never did. I wasn’t surprised.
In the 2004 Madrid attack – involving10 bombs -191 were killed and more than 1,800 injured. On July 7, 2007, in four attacks on London’s public transit system, 52 people were killed and more than 700 injured. Across the Middle East car bombings and other types of explosions designed to cause terror and death occur every day.
This is our world – an ugly fact that should not lead us to become desensitized to loss of life at the hands of criminals and fanatics of every stripe. At the same time, we need to recognize Boston’s place in that world.
We were no more or less likely than any other city to experience terrorism, any more than Newtown or Aurora were more likely to be victims of a home-grown gun massacre. We’ve joined a long list of addresses of victims but dwelling on the attacks serves the interests of those trying hard to sow fear and chaos.
Last week the Arlington Street Church, across from the Public Garden and a few blocks from the marathon finish line, decided to remove thousands of messages that had been tied to its iron fence for half a year. Notes of condolence and support – called “prayer flags” – would be ruined in coming winter weather, the church reasoned. Church members treated the public displays with great respect: They plan to incorporate many of them in a memorial quilt and to burn paper messages and then bless the ashes. Next April 15 the quilt will be unveiled.
These dignified gestures close a chapter with compassion.
We are Boston Strong. We will remember. And we will laugh and enjoy life, especially a World Series.
JoAnn Fitzpatrick is the former editorial page editor of The Patriot Ledger. Send your response to editpage@ledger.com.