Boston Marathon Terror Suspect Dead

I preach and practice tolerance acceptance of other people as part of my personal commitment to view, accept, and understand those who may (initially) seem very different from me.

While I believe tolerance acceptance affords respect and dignity to people, I must point out that my acceptance and understanding of others stops when the ‘others’ are terrorists who thrive on killing, injuring, and terrorizing civilized people.

One of the Boston Marathon bomber suspects is dead, and I freely admit, if he is indeed guilty of terrorism, I am not sorry. I woke to the news of a shootout in Watertown, MA, a university police officer shot to death, the carjacking of a Mercedes, and the news that the suspected Boston terrorists are brothers who hail from Russia or Chechnya or Turkey.

If the terrorists' motives were social, political, or religious is anyone’s guess, and the unreasonableness of terrorism almost makes their motives irrelevant, but for the possibility of finding evidence of further planned attacks.

Terrorists want us to be terrorized. 

After they attack, they want to sit back and watch us be afraid to come out of our homes or go to work or ride on trains or live our lives. This is what makes them thrive and while it may be difficult to persevere and move forward, the idea of living our lives in fear seems even more difficult – to me, anyway.

I have family in one of the locked-down Massachusetts towns adjacent to where the suspected bombers were found. They’re not answering their phone – I haven’t spoken to them today, but I am not panicking, because I have to believe they are alright.

  

UPDATE: I just spoke to my brother. He was driving home from Boston's Logan Airport last night around midnight and saw Watertown lit up with police blue lights from one of the off-ramps, but didn’t know what was going on until this morning. My family is safe and I am thankful for that.