The Boston Marathon Bombings

By Nathan Young on April 15, 2013

Today is a very sad day in America and in the world of sports. Two bombs exploded around the finish line at the Boston Marathon. The bombings took place around two hours after the winners crossed the finish line. Police and the FBI are calling this a terrorist attack and this attack was a “sophisticated, coordinated, planned attack.” As of right now, no one knows if the attack was from a foreign source or a U.S. based source.

Here are videos showing the explosion from The Boston Globe. Warning, these videos might be disturbing to some people.

Here is one photo that describes the situation perfectly.

To see more photos from the bombing, click on the link from The Atlantic. Warning, some of these photos are graphic!

http://www.theatlantic.com/infocus/2013/04/photos-of-the-boston-marathon-bombing/100495/

Here are two numbers that can help. For info. on family and loved ones in the area: call (617)635-4500, that’s the Boston Mayor’s hotline. If you have any information to share with authorities on any of these incidents: call (800)494-TIPS.

If you need to contact someone in the area, the Massachusetts Emergency Management Agency has suggested trying to reach loved ones via text messaging because of crowded phone lines.

Google and the Red Cross have set up pages so people can let loved ones know they are okay. Click on the links to reach them.

http://google.org/personfinder/2013-boston-explosions/

http://safeandwell.communityos.org/cms/index.php

I wanted to talk about my thoughts about the bombings today. Today, someone did something stupid. This person wanted to harm what is one of America’s greatest marathons that takes place in Boston each year on Patriot’s Day. The person or persons who planted these bombs are cowards who have no respect to other people. They only did this to get some attention.

As of 7 pm central on April 15th, around 115 people are injured and 3 people are killed. One of the 3 killed was an eight year old child. Us Americans needs to pray tonight and think about the victims and loved ones who are affected by this tragedy. We also need to pray and send our thanks to the first responders and citizens who jumped in to help those in need. There were even reports that some runners crossed the finish line and went straight to the hospital to give blood to victims. These are heroes in my book!

Obama ended his address to the nation today by saying, “We will find out who did this, and we will hold them accountable.” These cowards will be found and will be brought to justice. The victims are going to have a long road ahead of recovery. Some of the pictures I saw included people with limbs missing. Over the next few days ahead, I am sure we will see requests for donations. I hope you can give a few dollars to help the victims.

One more thing, Nathan Young and the Geek Alabama community encourages you to take a little time tonight to hug, hi-five, talk, cry, laugh, or whatever you do to share love for those you care about. Enjoy some time with your families tonight and stay away from the news coverage. This will be the last post for tonight on Geek Alabama, more posts will come on Tuesday!

Before I go, I wanted to share this video from Fred Rogers. He talked about advice to give to kids after major events like this.