Doing the Right Thing

More reflections on the impact of the Boston Marathon bombings.  It often happens that as the initial adrenaline after a catastrophic event wears off that there are people who think they should have done more--or they have no thoughts related to their behavior, but  they think that others could have done more.  My rule of thumb in these matters, whether they be big or small issues, is to do what I would publically want to defend having done.  If my grandmother were to see it on YouTube, how would she feel about it?

It is sometimes hard to know what the right thing to do is--when there is injustice being done, speak out about it--that is not hard to figure out.  But the world is rarely as straight forward as that. 

One of the inspirational things about what happened in Boston a week ago was that in the aftermath of bombs exploding a lot of people surged forward to help those who had been injured instead of running for the hills.  On the one hand, the swift rescue of those with blast injuries is critical to their survival, and you really have no idea where the next blast could go off--it could just as easily be where you would run to as where you are.  On the other, protecting oneself is instinctual and hard to fight off.

There were a lot of first responders on hand because of the marathon itself--there were medically trained personnel to aid runners at the end of the race and police officers to provide security.  First responders have the advantage that they have been trained in how to respond.  They do not have to figure out what to do, they automatically start to do it, and may have had the experience of having done it before.  That does not diminish their bravery at the scene, far from it.  They were inspirational.  But it helps explains why they could act without thinking.

Those who haven't been doing disaster drills since 9/11 may not be so well trained, but many bystanders were lending a hand quickly and with good effect--all the bomb blast victims who reached the hospital alive, which was the vast majority of them, look to be on track to survie.  That is largely due to an exceptional response of medical staff once they reached the hospital, but it took getting them alive for the hospital to be able to work it's magic.  I don't know what it is that makes people surge forward into danger--is it that they are brave?  That they aren't thinking exactly but are compelled to act?  Whatever it is, it was inspirational to watch in the  moment and to think about as there has been time to reflect.