Last week at this time I was hoping that the "army" of law enforcement in Boston, Cambridge, and Watertown would catch the bombing suspect(s) alive. I was wishing. The usual suicide-mission ending to most of these tragedies helps no one. Over the weekend, however, I changed my mind. Nothing the suffering suspect can tell, or write, investigators and prosecutors will satisfy me. In fact, I wish he had died in the firefights, or even taken his own life. Nothing, absolutely nothing can ameliorate the anger and complete disgust I feel for this so-called, All-American kid.
Sure, I had radical ideas in the 1960's. I marched, I protested(still do), screamed profanities about the Vietnam war, the Pentagon, even the White House, sat-in, got myself dragged by the hair on campus by security cops. In my youth, I thought we, my friends and me, had a lot of radical energy to expend. We were American kids, protesting loudly, about American institutions, policies, and government decisions, and aimed a lot of blame at the players who ran them. I went to American schools, played sports, became a part of the social fabric of America. I cannot ever remember any one of my contemporaries, during all of that tumult, even suggesting that we demonstrate by harming, maiming, or killing innocent people. If you were in the crowd and happen to get clopped on the head with a placard, sorry, it was accidental.
Even if this former wrestler, former student at U. Mass, former lifeguard comes out of his intubation and tells FBI investigators who he is, who he is representing, and why he decided to kill and injure people at the Boston Marathon, I will not be satisfied. Young Americans don't commonly wake up one morning and decide to plant an explosive device at a sport's event, or create havoc for the sake of their own private radicalization. We have a forum for protest: its called freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom to worship, freedom to protest as loudly as possible, and it all comes with being an American citizen, a work or living permit, or naturalization.
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What were the Marathon Bombers trying to prove? I'll not use their names. Not commiting suicide points to their enlarged egos. Bombing known innocents is a function of cowardice, not bravery. It is the action of losers, not radicals. If they were really committed to a cause, then go, go back to where you can affect change. They will give you guns, bombs, support and show you how to use them. Commit yourself, your life, to something worthwhile. Fight for something if you must. You will prove nothing by killing innocent people, and you will never convince me that you have. Too much attention will now be paid to your failure and ineptitude.
I wish you had died in the process of proving your cowardice.
