A Somber But Strong Boston

On April 15th, the morning of Marathon Monday, the country watched as a joyous occasion turned into a horrific tragedy in Boston.

Explosions went off at the finish line of The Boston Marathon and left three dead and hundreds injured. An idyllic day turned into a scene from a horror movie and the repercussions of the incident rattled a city.

“I found out about the incident 20 minutes or so after it happened while I was just a few miles away,” said Laila Khan, senior at Boston University.

Khan explained that the course of the race goes right through her campus and she was cheering on runners and enjoying the festivities when she got a phone call from friends in California.

“Everyone was asking me if I was okay and I was saying, ‘of course I am, its Marathon Monday!” said Khan, “Suddenly phones were going off all around me as everyone was getting calls from loved ones about their well being. I just remember being in the middle of the city and it hadn’t sunk in, it just didn’t seem real.”

While Khan was receiving calls from across the country, University of Illinois Medical School student Imran Chishti was among those frantically calling loved ones in Boston.

“My biggest fear was for my dad. I know he works on holidays and his office is about four blocks from the finish line and he always goes to the Marathon for a bit,” said Chishti, “it took a few frantic calls, but I found out he had left that general area just 30 minutes prior to the bombings and had no idea what happened. This was just repeated over and over again throughout the day as I texted and called friends to make sure they were ok.“

Chisti was born at Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital, where some of the injured from the marathon were taken and even though he is in Illinois now, his heart is in Boston.

“I’m a Boston sports fan, my family lives in Boston and I went to the Boston Marathon every year as child growing up with my dad, Boston is home.”

The bombings at the marathon left the city in a lockdown. An increased sense of security, a tense atmosphere and a somber people is what filled Boston in the week following the explosions.

According to Khan, everyone was told to stay indoors. The city and the schools went into lockdown from that Tuesday after the bombing until Friday night.

“The day after the marathon my friends and I went down to the site of the bombings. This area is right by the mall and normally it’s full of people, but this time everything was very empty and somber, my friend described Boston as “hollow” that day and I thought that was the best way to put it,” said Khan.

But through tragedy and hardship come moments of great compassion and camaraderie. There were countless reports of marathoners running straight to hospitals to donate blood to the injured, and the people of Boston rallied together to hold blood drives, vigils and acts of kindness for the victims.

“There was definitely a big sense of community that I think was very necessary,” said Khan, “ I think everyone was in the mindset that “it could have been me” because Marathon Monday brings everyone out, so coming together was very evident.”

Khan said students put together an event on Facebook called “The Last 5,” a walk that allowed people to come out and walk the last 5 miles of the race for all those people who couldn’t finish. Unfortunately the walk was unable to happen because the area was closed down but the event on Facebook still has over 1000 people attending and many still want to make it happen.

There have also been vigils and memorials held for the victims of the incident and people are raising money for those who need to have their hospital bills paid. All sorts of support have come in from across the nation and even the world. The London Marathon incorporated a Hand over Heart in honor of the Boston marathoners and the Chicago Tribune sent pizza to the Boston Globe.

“At the marathon a guy ran by and the back of his shirt said “Yankees suck” but since the incident, at the Yankees game, the entire Yankee stadium sang ‘Sweet Caroline,’ which is something Fenway does, in honor of Boston and the Marathon. The people of Boston definitely feels a sense of support from the nation as a whole with little acts like that,” said Khan.

Chishti said the best way for Boston to cope and move forward is to return to normalcy and feels that sports play a huge role in that.

“In Boston, sports is a religion more than anything. One of the best moments I saw was at the Bruins game on the Wednesday after the bombings. You had the singer stop singing and 18,000 people sang the national anthem in unison. Just small acts like that where the people of Boston can go back to sporting events, and can show a camaraderie is the best way to overcome what has happened,” said Chishti.

Since the suspects are in custody Boston is a lot better than the week of the incident and has returned to business as usual, but Khan says that a feeling of tension and paranoia is still evident and probably will be for a while.

“Before we would all turn a deaf ear to the sound of sirens, but now every time we hear the sirens of a cop car, we get tense,” she said.

But Khan thinks that Boston will be stronger after everything that has occurred and emphasizes that the best thing Bostonians and people anywhere else can do, is keep the victims in their thoughts and prayers.

Initially a fear of both Chishti and Khan’s was that the Boston Marathon, a holiday in the city, a time that people referred to as “Christmas in April” would forever be tainted, but since the weeks following the incident they’re confident it won’t be. 

“Boston is a city people are very proud to be from. The Marathon will always be something the city takes pride in, it was fun before but now it will be a time for people to remember those affected.” said Khan.

Khan and her friends promised one another that no matter where they were or what they were doing, they would come back for the next Marathon Monday.

“It’s going to be a very powerful experience to be back here next year,” she said.

Chishti believes that the gravity and nature of the incident and the amount of people affected has made the marathon matter even more.

“The marathon will always be held a little closer to peoples hearts in Boston. Bostonians are tough people and resilient, made evident by the fact that an entire city was shut down to find those responsible. Boston prides itself on being the big, little city (if that makes sense) and I think that if anything this has just brought everyone closer and made us stronger,” he said.