April 15, 2013 was a brisk and sunny Spring day, beautiful for running. That was, until bombs exploded, and the lives of the runners and bystanders were put in danger.
It’s difficult to believe that it has been one year since the Boston Marathon Bombing, an event that shook Boston and sent the rest of the country into shock.
“All of a sudden, the bomb goes off and the entire city goes into lockdown” Ian Offenberg ’16, whose aunt was two blocks from the bombing, said. “For something so tragic to happen at the happiest and most high-spirit event in the city was brutal for Boston and beyond.”
Charlie Greenwald ’12, a current student at EmersonUniversity was at the event an hour before the explosions. On that day, Greenwald gave a Skype Inklings interview recounting the event. “Boston was essentially a ghost town. Nobody walked the streets, and nobody went outside,” Greenwald said.
One year later, he said he is still haunted by the tragedy.
With the 188th running of the Boston Marathon on Monday April 21 approaching, Boston is preparing for the event by strengthening the security, sporting the “Boston Strong” spirit, and remembering and honoring the injured and lives that were lost.
“The whole city is taking extremely careful precautionary measures to ensure that nothing happens again,” Greenwald said.
According to USA Today, there will be more than 3,500 police officers on patrol at this year’s marathon, which is double from last year, and people who attend the marathon are strongly advised not to take backpacks, coolers, and other large items, and encouraged to carry their personal items in clear plastic bags.
To honor the lives lost in the bombing, students are taking action, and amongst them is Alexis Teixeira ’13, a freshman at BostonUniversity. “We have done a lot of things to make this more of a memorial of the tragedy that occurred last year,” Teixeira said. “Earlier this year, I volunteered to plant flowers along the course of the run in hopes that they will bloom for the marathon.”
Offenberg said he deeply admires the unity of Bostonians in the face of tragedy. “It was a perfect display of the brotherhood that is within the citizens of Boston.”
Greenwald believes that the marathon will reenergize the city, as it is a final step in the healing process of what has been a tumultuous year. “I think it will be an odd mix of celebration and intense somberness,” Greenwald said. “People will both be very defiant, Boston Strong so to speak, and also very sad, remembering the victims and the event just a year ago.”
Will Horne ’13, a freshman at BostonUniversity, agrees. “I don’t know what the city will be like when the next Marathon Monday rolls around, but I do know that this is one of the most resilient, special communities I’ve ever been a part of.”
