Fellow Bostonians and New Englanders - My wife and I hope that you and yours are safe following yesterday's tragic events.
For those of us in the city, it was a startling revelation to see folks who should have been overjoyed - the marathoners and their families, as well as visitors celebrating Patriot's Day - were instead bewildered, heartbroken, and completely disoriented in a city that had just suffered a deep wound.
As a transplanted New Yorker and Washingtonian, I was overwhelmed with the outpouring of heroism and compassion that flowed from our community in a fashion similar to what we witnessed in NYC and DC those years ago. We saw that folks responded immediately - event participants, police, members of the national guard, EMTs - as the chaos ensued: running into the smoke instead of from it. And then we opened our veins and our doors to those who needed it, showing that we're a big town: not a faceless city.
Stay vigilant; stay safe.