MILT THOMAS

Now that it is over, we can reflect on the terror and triumph of what happened in Boston this past week. It is nothing short of amazing that only five days passed between the Boston Marathon terrorist attack and capture/killing of the perpetrators.  Frankly, after being subjected to days of brain cell-atrophying reports on a Carnival cruise ship breakdown, I fully expected this much more serious event to occupy news networks for weeks and months, as well it should. But that would not be necessary.

 In a nation still recovering emotionally from the attacks of September 11, 2001, it seemed at first that we were just as vulnerable now as then. But it took only five days for the lessons we learned since 9-11 to go on display for the entire world to see.  Imagine the man (and woman) hours that must have been spent reviewing footage from hundreds of surveillance cameras and narrowing all that video down to two faceless men walking through the crowds. Then, for a major U.S. city to go into complete lockdown on virtually a moment’s notice as thousands of local, state and federal law enforcement officers, working side by side, tracked down voluminous leads to end up surrounding a boat stored in someone’s backyard. In a Hollywood-style finale, a helicopter with infra-red imaging equipment focused on the fugitive hiding in the boat as a robot pulled back the tarp covering him.  Incredible. The entire process took literally hours from attack to resolution. Even more incredible.

It is a terrible shame that at least four people had to die because of this atrocity and many more maimed for life, physically and emotionally. But compared to 9-11, where thousands died during the attack and thousands more died in the wars that followed, we can be thankful it ended so quickly.

Time will tell how far-reaching the preparation for this evil attack went, but we can rest assured that the answers will be uncovered. Even if the two brothers were Muslims, no one will blame all Muslims. We have a new enemy now – Chechnyans. But most people never heard of Chechnya, nor do they know anyone from that country, so we don’t have to worry about categorizing everyone from Chechnya as a terrorist. We are left instead focusing blame on those two misguided brothers and whoever might have assisted them, regardless of their faith or nationality. Isn’t that how we should look at all terrorist incidents?

Terrorism has always had a sick part to play in the human story, but never has it been so quickly and efficiently defeated. Next year’s Boston Marathon will go on as planned, appropriately again on Patriots’ Day, and the streets will be even more crowded to show the world that terrorism can never defeat the American spirit. We survived 9-11, Pearl Harbor and the American Revolution. Boston best represented the American spirit in 1776 and it still does today.