I'm serious. Count your blessings, it might help.

Here are mine:

My son, who I had strongly advised to go over with his buddies from college to be somewhere near the Marathon finish line...was dawdling and wasn't there when the bombs went off...

My brother, who spent a sleepless night as swat teams and police combed thru his Watertown neighborhood, was not near where the actual two street shootings took place...

We are heartened by the outpouring of sympathy for the victims and for support for our city, even as footage of funeral after funeral shows on the news...

We have NOT been turning off the news... Actually, finding out more and more what really is happening, helps the vague feeling of not getting the straight story. DU, and reddit, has helped a LOT in that regard...

Volunteering for a few community things - Senate campaign, church...


And then there are the personal things that help keep us chugging along:

Family mostly doing well...

Dancing (in long time street troupe with friends)

Running again. Maybe not Marathon caliber, but EVERYBODY seems to have taken to the streets since Patriots Day so it seemed like the thing to do...

exploring the Mediterranean diet... (red) wine is actually good for you?!?

And, of course, music...playing it, and listening to Motown and World

That my prescription, anyway.

Here's something to cheer you up:

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more operations, months of rehab, and many dark days ahead for these survivors. But there is hope for these people to put a semblance of their lives back together.

Our hearts go out to friends and families of those that did not survive: Krystle Campbell, who funeral was today in nearby Medford, Martin Richard, Lu Lingzi, and Officer Sean Collier. Officer Richard Donohue who nearly died is likely to make a recovery.

I have said this before, but it bears repeating: the 'primary responders' where friends and strangers standing nearby or leaping in quickly to help stop bleeding, etc. before even the nearby EMTs and police got to the scene. This is almaost always the case. Average citizens rise to the occasion to help do the right things. Of course it helps if you have some skills. I think it behooves all of us that don't already have some, to think about getting some basic emergency training. I know I will be.

http://www.redcross.org/take-a-class

http://www.fema.gov/community-emergency-response-teams/training-materials

Carlos Arredondo - it may be safe to say we all would STILL be waiting for a break in the investigation, and the two brother terrorists would be long gone from Massachusetts.

Arredondo is the guy in the cowboy hat seen leaping over the barricades pulling down some fencing so the EMTs could get thru, then he turned to the first victim near him who turned out to be Jeff Bauman. Carlos put out his burning shirt and made a tourniquet for his missing legs, grabbed the nearest person with a wheelchair and helped hold Jeff together literally as they wheeled him to an ambulance...the first casualty to leave the scene and head to a hospital.

Police began the daunting task of sifting thru mountains of video to figure out if they could identify any suspicious activity or persons. Jeff came out of surgery and right away asked for paper. He remembered "Black Cap" setting down the backpack at his feet and described him to investigators. That was the break police needed. They were able to zero in on that detail and soon found the clips that showed the two potential suspects. The photos were given to the press and within one day the suspects had panicked and bolted.

The MIT cop shooting, carjacking, shooting spree thru Watertown and manhunt culminating with the younger brothers dramatic capture last night in that backyard boat ended what would have gone very differently but for two regular guys that became heros.
There are many many first responders, police, fire, FBI,ATF, and officials who all deserve praise for their work. But there are also many just regular folks - I'd call them "primary responders" - who, in desperate moments of crisis - found the strength and courage to do great things.

Jeff and Carlos changed history.


--FTC

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P.S. there is a fund set up to help get Jeff back to college:
From Chancellor Marty Meehan:
"We have established the UMass Lowell Boston Marathon Scholarship Fund, which will benefit any member of the University community, including their families and alumni, who has been affected and wants to pursue an education here.
Anyone who is interested in making a donation to the scholarship fund should contact

[email protected] <[email protected]?Subject=UMass%20Lowell%20Boston%20Marathon%20Scholarship%20Fund%20Established> .

[email protected]