I've been getting a lot of questions from my workmates about the events at the Boston Marathon. They all want to know if if anyone had claimed responsibility. I think they must think that as a US citizen, I get some special announcement. Sadly, I'm just cruising CNN and Facebook for updates like everyone else.
The question of who did it evolved into a conversation about whether it was done by someone domestically. What was sad to admit (and embarrassing at the same time) was that the fact that it could have been anyone. There are a lot of people out there that hate Americans -- both within the borders and outside of them. I don't see it reflected here. The most negative reaction I get is when they make fun of my pronunciation of certain words like "schedule" and "process". ("Aluminum" was the newest one --- I still can't pronounce it the way the Brits do.)
I'm not surprised by the empathy that the Brits have shown throughout all this. After all, they have experienced their own tragedies with bombings. The interesting thing is all the theories they have as to why someone would have done it --- anywhere from rebelling against taxes (being that it was executed on Tax Day) to a statement against Patriots Day. They don't understand why nobody claimed credit. Their rationalization is that if their cause was that important, they would have claimed responsibility. If not, then why do it? I tried to explain that the US is full of whack jobs (how pathetic of an explanation is that!) and trying to explain it is almost impossible. How do you explain craziness?
The question of who did it evolved into a conversation about whether it was done by someone domestically. What was sad to admit (and embarrassing at the same time) was that the fact that it could have been anyone. There are a lot of people out there that hate Americans -- both within the borders and outside of them. I don't see it reflected here. The most negative reaction I get is when they make fun of my pronunciation of certain words like "schedule" and "process". ("Aluminum" was the newest one --- I still can't pronounce it the way the Brits do.)
I'm not surprised by the empathy that the Brits have shown throughout all this. After all, they have experienced their own tragedies with bombings. The interesting thing is all the theories they have as to why someone would have done it --- anywhere from rebelling against taxes (being that it was executed on Tax Day) to a statement against Patriots Day. They don't understand why nobody claimed credit. Their rationalization is that if their cause was that important, they would have claimed responsibility. If not, then why do it? I tried to explain that the US is full of whack jobs (how pathetic of an explanation is that!) and trying to explain it is almost impossible. How do you explain craziness?
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