boston

I think we all lose awareness of our very fragile state of humanity. The events that took place in Boston today no doubt reminded us again how feeble human life is. It was very distressing to see it all unfold on the Internet. At first I thought it was a gas explosion or something in the same vein, but nothing too major, nothing too deadly. However, much to my horror, the following hours contained horrific images and information that will be seared into my brain for quite some time.

I don’t want to talk about what happened in Boston, but rather what happened outside of Boston. For starters, this is one of the first events I’ve witnessed that transpired completely on Twitter. Television stations were pulling their information from Twitter. I was watching a live stream on the Internet, whilst the hosts were reading tweets from the Internet. This entire event happened at the hands of technology. It wasn’t just media outlets either. Police scanners were telling people on social media to get information across. Law enforcements were relying on Twitter. For those who doubt that there is a technology revolution, you are sadly mistaken. Today’s events further prove how dependent we’ve become on social media. And I can’t pinpoint if that’s a bad thing or not.

Secondly, tying in with the Internet, today brought the world a little closer. Within seconds, the entire world was notified of what happened. Something that would have taken several hours to produce and broadcast internationally years ago, took literally milliseconds. It builds a sense of community as well. At the gym tonight, the TV was set to CNN and every student in the gym had their eyes on the screen. For a city school, the campus is quiet. We all feel a little on edge.

Sometimes, we get too caught up in our own lives to recognize that life isn’t a guaranteed thing. It’s sad that something like a tragedy has to pull us back into reality. It’s sad that there are people out there that try to take away something so delicate, something so cherished, for unexplainable reasons.

A lot of cruel words are being said. A lot of racism is being spread. But if there’s one thing to remember it’s we’re all human. It’s a redundant phrase, sure, but it holds so much truth. At the end of the day, we all have the same structure. I just don’t understand why more people can’t see that. Every human being is equal.

Today was very conflicting for me. I was almost split in two -- the journalistic Abby and the emotionally attached Abby. After assuring that all my Boston friends were safe, I dove headfirst into every media outlet. I kept a Facebook status running, consistently updating with information that I felt was the most important. I read article after article, watched live streams, scoured for concrete information, but I had to pull myself out of the reality.

Pursuing a career in journalism, I realize that this is material I would have to be covering. I would have to be the ‘bearer of bad news.’ And I’m not sure if I’m mentally prepared for that. I heavily respect journalists.

One final comment I need to touch: the brave heroism that exists on this earth. Every time I lose faith in humanity, something (or someone) will restore the faith. Watching the raw footage of when the explosions went off, it was remarkable to see that people, instead of fleeing from the smoke, actually dove into it to try to help someone, anyone who needed them. So many people are heroes today -- nurses, doctors, race volunteers, police forces. But we also have the brave civilians whose natural instinct was to help. And that is the epitome of a hero.

A lot of what I’ve said is basically rehashing what I’ve said elsewhere on social media, but I couldn’t even finish working out at the gym, I was so bothered by what happened. I needed to put it all down in a blog format. My thoughts are still jumbled, and I'm not entirely sure how to say what I need to say. But I know something needs to change. As I said on Twitter, it’s not science that’s going to be the end of the world. It’s humanity.

Please don’t take advantage of life. It’s something so beautiful, something so wonderful. It can be changed in a blink of an eye. Be thankful for everything and everyone in your life. And most importantly be kind to others. Thank you for reading my thoughts.

Stay beautiful. 

xx

A

Side note: I have deleted my older posts from 2011 forward. I have the major ones saved (body image, nerdfighteria, etc. Etc. If you so have the desire to read one of those? I have it…) Also, thanks to everyone who tweeted me about my last post. That’s what made want to come back to blogging. :)