People Being Awesome in the Aftermath of the Boston Bombing
After yesterday’s post, I wanted to follow up with some examples of kindness, courage, generosity, and overall awesomeness from the past week or so.
The Red Cross of Eastern MA sent out a Tweet saying they didn’t need blood at this time, because so many people had rushed to donate after the bombing. (For readers not located in Eastern MA, your local Red Cross would probably still appreciate donations, though!)
From El Pelon Taqueria, a restaurant in Boston: “This week @Boston_Police @BostonFire and all Public Saftey–put away your wallets.” They’re one of many stores and restaurants to show this kind of generosity.
The sheer number of people, both first responders and civilians, who reportedly ran toward the chaos and explosion in order to help the victims.
The Chicago Tribune sent pizzas to the staff of the Boston Globe, along with a note saying, “We can’t buy you lost sleep, so at least let us pick up lunch.”
Several of you pointed to this photo of a Boston police officer delivering milk to a family with young children during the lockdown.
Google put together a tool to help people find their friends and loved ones after the explosions. I’ve grumbled about some of Google’s actions in the past, but this was a perfect example of using their skills, resources, and connections to do good.
Honey Nichols spent Wednesday handing out candy to residents of Boston. (Thanks Peter K. for this one.)
Check out this amazing list of Boston-area residents who offered space to sleep, transportation, food, and more.
This exchange between people in Syria and Boston.
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Please feel free to add more examples in the comments. If links get caught in the spam filter, don’t worry, I’ll be checking and unspamming those throughout the day.
LJ Cohen
April 23, 2013 @ 9:37 am
So important to remember that there is good in the world. I live the next town over from Watertown, close enough that I often walk there. It’s been an emotionally grueling week. I thought I was doing okay until yesterday’s moment of silence undid me. The pizza story made me smile–thank you.
Lila
April 23, 2013 @ 9:56 am
If you live in the U.S. and you’re looking for ways to help, do a web search on “Community Emergency Response Team”. Free training (funded by FEMA) to enable citizens to take over some of the grunt work of disaster/emergency response to free up the professionals to do their thing. Could be knocking on doors after a hurricane to find out what the survivors need; running a pet shelter during an evacuation; helping search for a lost kid; participating in disaster drills; etc. etc.
ginmar
April 26, 2013 @ 10:08 am
Hell, you can see people stopping mid stride as the bomb goes off, then turning around instantly and running toward the smoke. And don’t forget Carlos Arredondo. He lost one son in the war, another to suicide, nearly killed himself out of his own despair, then turned to peace activism to keep on living. He personally saved one guy who lost both legs.
I can’t put this into words too well, but it’s almost like people are eager to help, just waiting for something to happen, but I don’t mean that in a bad way. Even the worst people have some good in them sometimes.
I was so proud when the WH spokesman contemptuously dismissed the notion of ‘enemy combatant’ and all that crap. He’s an American citizen and we still have a Constitution. I think people who promote that think that they can hide behind stressful times to force lower standards on all of us. The problem is, some people are really eager, it seems, to live in fear, because they can claim that there’s special circumstances that require lower human rights standards. EVen the worst people have rights, and it feels like a long time since we as a country even acknowledged that.
Did you hear about the Boston hospital that sent pizza to the first responders (those are left, that is) in West, Texas, after the huge explosion there? West responded by flying out home made Texas BBQ to the hospital. Some people find new heights in themselves in horrible times. Other people seek out and embrace the depths while they hide behind the turmoil.
And then….there’s people like me who get incoherent at one picture of a big burly cop with gallons of milk.