In the aftermath of yet another horrific incident i.e the Boston bombings we ‘normal’ human beings are left reeling at the unfathomable motives behind it.
We have all seen the shocking pictures of casualties and of the 2 calm faces of the suspects mingling amongst the crowds. What are they thinking? Who can even begin to understand how their minds work. They are part of the human race yet so far on the edge, out of the norm that no person with any empathy with fellow marathoners in our human race can comprehend.
We feel outrage and sick to our stomachs that they can engineer to do something so devastating to others, are they so full of hatred that it had made them unhinged? Whatever way we try to fathom it we never will. There will be more to follow and more tragedy for innocent people who are in the wrong place at the wrong time.
On the other hand look instead the wealth of human kindness and selflessness witnessed by those that rushed forwards to help the injured with no thought for themselves. They did not personally know the victims, they did not know that more bombs were not about to go off. They did not know that buildings may fall and endanger themselves. They just acted on instinct to help others. There may have been more in the death toll if not for these people.
The striking image of the poor man in the wheelchair with severed legs and the helpers,one of which is physically clamping his femoral artery closed to stem the life ending flow of blood. If not for his actions the man could well have bled to death in the mayhem. These are the people you want to be around, god forbid we should ever find ourselves in similar circumstances. And who are ‘these’ people?
These real life heroes are all around us every day. The man we pass on the street on our way to work, the lady on the bus, the people we may even judge in a negative way because they are different. Look around you tomorrow, should you ever unfortunately be in the wrong place at the wrong time and something terrible happens, the chances are there is someone in the vicinity that would jump to your aid and potentially save your life.
So go on why not smile at a stranger today because you never know that stranger could turn out to be your saviour one day.