By now I’m assuming you already know what happened April 15th in Boston, so I’m not going into any details.
When something like that happens I can’t help but wonder what has gone wrong? What happened to the human race? What goes through a person’s mind to think that anything that even resembles something that could hurt another human being is okay?
I can’t answer those questions. I can only formulate assumptions as to why someone would have so much hate in their hearts. I can only formulate theories that try to explain what happened to them to lead to such actions. But none of them give me any piece of mind. They make me sad. They make me angry.
So I try to focus my energy on things that are the complete opposite of their actions.
I focus on the image of 78-year-old Bill Iffrig, knocked over by the blast near the finish line, who then picked himself back up and finished the race.
I focus on the first responders who risked their lives without a second thought to rescue and help people.
I focus on the man who used his own belt as a tourniquet and on many others who ripped off their own clothes to help the injured.
I focus on the reports of runners in the marathon who continued past the finish line to area hospitals to donate blood, and on the many, many others who were not even part of the marathon and volunteered as blood donors.
I focus on the many Boston restaurants that not only offered nearby strangers a place to get away from the chaos, charge a phone, use a restroom, and rest, but that also fed those strangers, stating “pay only if you can.”
I focus on the person who picked up the checks of 7 tables (24 people all together).
I focus on the hundreds of people who opened their own homes and offered a bed, a couch, a bathroom, a warm plate of food to the ones affected by this tragedy, either because they were not able to go back to their hotel or had to be there for others who were injured.
I focus on the people from all over the country who decided to buy a drink, donate money or time, and leave happy/inspiring notes to people they knew but also to complete strangers, showing us that acts of kindness are not only restricted to a geographical location.
To all of them, to all of you, I say: THANK YOU! Thank you for restoring my/our faith in humanity.
Read more:
15 acts of kindness during the Boston blasts – KSHB.com
Boston marathon acts of kindness – Mashable.com
26 acts of kindness in the wake of the Boston marathon tragedy – NBCnews.com
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Why and how to blog
I constantly see blogs talking about how many viewers they have or how many clicks they got on a certain post or day. I also see the number of likes and comments they get and sometimes it amazes me. Then I come to my humble blog and see my single-digit comments and likes and my double-digit views and you know what? I love it!
Don’t get me wrong, I’d love to interact with more people through my blog, of course. But it’s so much fun when I see that someone liked or commented on what I wrote/posted that I don’t really care how many people did it. Most people will read a blog post and move on, not even leaving their mark in here. And it’s okay. Maybe they didn’t like what I said, maybe it didn’t matter to them as much, or maybe it did.
Maybe, just maybe, what they saw here, be it a post, a video, a review, did make an impression, did make them think. And that, to me, is more important than whether or not they say something to me. I guess that’s the reason why I have this blog, as a way to communicate with people I don’t yet know, and I like it. No, scratch that, I love it!
I’m now thinking of a poem I love by Emily Dickinson that I already talked about way back when I first started this blog. I guess, to me, if I can reach one person, only one, it won’t be in vain. We can’t change the whole world, but we can (and should) try. And the way to do that is by reaching one person and doing one small thing.
Here’s a video by Vi Hart that talks about reaching people and how to do it. I think it has the message I’m trying to convey. Don’t stress over the numbers of views/comments/likes. Do what you want to do because that is the message you want to send. And if you reach one person, great! That means you’re doing it right.
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Posted by RedheadCarol on April 29, 2013 in Furiously Happy, Life's Full Of Choices, Little Notes, Movie Time, Prompted by Other Posts or Blogs, Reasons to Celebrate
Tags: audience, blog, blogging, choices, comments, create, Emily Dickinson, entertainment, I Shall Not Live In Vain, inspiration, internet, life, numbers, opinion, poetry, respect, responses, They Became What They Beheld, Vi Hart, video, videos, youtube, youtube video