Struggling With Cowards in Davis & Boston

I woke up Monday morning to a text message about a double homicide in south Davis.

It was clear immediately that I wouldn't be writing the concert review I had atop my to-do list for that morning. I assumed the homicides would dominate my next few days, actually. 

And then, almost immediately, Boston happened.

More than a dozen Davis runners were registered for the race, and it seemed like a good idea to find out if they were OK. Plus, beyond being a local journalist, the event demanded my attention as a human being. I wanted to know what was going on, so I refreshed webpages regularly. 

These two awful events consumed me for the 10 hours that followed, as more and more information reached the public. 

I even made a point to drink some wine later that night in an effort to separate myself from the tragedies before going to sleep. 

I considered writing something short about the two concurrent news items, but the truth is I still haven't caught up with my to-do list. That concert review is yet to be published, for example. 

But I just found a blog post by local teacher and blogger Jennifer Mason Wolfe that makes plenty of its own worthwhile points. She introduced her post on Facebook with these words: "I'm really struggling with cowards...those who inflict pain on innocents, not only in Boston, but in my own community." Here's a snippet: 

Alongside the reports of runners blown off their feet by the blast, parents frantically searching for their children, and well-wishers scrambling to find their loved ones, another act of terror was playing itself across the country in my little town. Sadly, this act was ... equally heinous, and inflicted upon an elderly couple for no apparent reason...

These were people who, like the marathoners, loved life. They loved their families, their communities, the arts, politics and music. They loved being together. They loved their home. They didn’t deserve to be victims.

Read Wolfe's blog full post here, and feel free to share your thoughts as these two news events continue to play out: Jennifer Mason Wolfe: A Cowardly Act of Terror