As the Nascar Sprint Cup Series drivers prepare to tackle 400 miles of racing terrain at Kansas Speedway this weekend, everyone's thoughts, prayers and hearts lie much farther away from the featured race track of the week. For a few moments frozen in time, the single most important issue at hand is not "who's cheatin' who," who sits on top of the points board, who received suspensions for violations founded or unfounded, or what penalties should or shouldn't have been handed down by the sanctioning body of the sport. The "driver feud of the week" will suddenly find itself taking a backseat to the unity of a nation, as together we mourn a senseless act of terrorism directed toward our people, and the unforgivable resulting loss of human lives.
We saw it happen in 2001 when the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center and a portion of the Pentagon building were hit without warning, and prior to that when the Oklahoma City bombing and resulting deaths stunned the nation. And yet in none of these instances did the United States of America allow itself to bow to terrorists, nor will we ever. For it is in the midst of those very moments intended for our weakness, that our greatest strengths instead emerge from the ashes and send a message, loud and clear, to those who dare take unfounded aim at our freedoms:
We will not back down!
Though our hearts grieve for those in Boston whose lives were lost in the Marathon bombing, though we are shocked and stunned that our personal safety and liberties have once again come under fire, and though we continue to seek out the answers as to "WHY?", one thing remains certain: the American people will not turn our backs and readily forgive those who wish to destroy everything that this nation was founded upon and continues to stand for! We have proven so, many times in the past, and will continue to demonstrate the same unity and fighting spirit in the days ahead, without respect to those who continually--and mistakenly--believe it is "their job" to intimidate us through such desperate and despicable acts as those of the past week.
Indeed, while we may be tempted when faced with the unthinkable, to "halt" the very things in life which we have come to enjoy (including but not limited to our favorite sporting events), it is in the midst of those very times that we instead find our most tremendous strength in the simple act of "carrying on" with life as usual, and in doing so, returning some semblance of normalcy to the otherwise unfortunate circumstances intended to threaten or intimidate us. And it is in such spirit that the Nascar teams and drivers venture to Kansas Speedway this weekend--many of them paying tribute to the lives lost and to the emerging heroes on their respective race cars--echoing the common sentiment of every proud American citizen who stands in support of a "wounded" but not "broken" people:
Today, we are all "Bostonians."
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