Boston Strong, even when it's weak

I went out to watch a friend run the Boston Marathon for the first time.  This year for obvious reasons there was more hype, more coverage, and more fear than in any year that I can remember, but that wasn't the feeling at all on the sidelines.  As I watched that shifting, sweating, straining "sea of humanity" pass in front of me, what I saw and heard instead was the diversity and the forward thrust of it all.  It was the push to the finish line, sure, but it was more than that:  it was a body of people saying that we will not let a few very bad apples spoil the harvest.  Of course Ghandi said it much better: ''You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is like an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.''  Now, the fact that ocean is in fact getting dirty, thanks to said humanity, is a post for another day, but today, what I saw was perseverance and determination and hope.  It was somehow appropriate as well that an American won the race for the first time in twenty years.  Run on, Boston, run on.

http://www.runnersworld.com/sites/default/files/bostonstrong500.jpg