Today, I Am NOT a Runner

Somebody placed 2 bombs in trash cans near the finish of the Boston Marathon.  When they find the depravity responsible, we will learn many things.  They will have a reason, and that reason will make no sense.  They will not have a vendetta against runners.  They will not have been attacking runners or the running community.  They will have selected a very public gathering with high media coverage, that coincidentally was the Boston Marathon.  We will also learn that they sympathize with some groups and hate other groups, and none of that will really make any sense.  It should also make us reflect on this very human need to belong and the also very human need to stop people from belonging.  Why it is that, so frequently, belonging to one group means not belonging to another.  There are victims of this isolation every minute of every day.  We don’t need to learn to be tolerant of others, we need to learn to appreciate all so that the concept of “others” becomes what is foreign.  So, at least for today, I choose to not be white, or male, or american, or atheist, or liberal and I also choose to NOT be a runner.