Boston bombing another grotesque reminder of deathless evil lurking in our midst

By Al S. Mendoza

 

THE last most gruesome terrorist attack of a global sporting event was at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games in Germany.

Eleven athletes from Israel were killed in the Olympic Village assault by armed extremists from Palestine.  Four Arabs would also die during the ill-fated rescue mission led by German troops.

At that time, counter-terrorism or SWAT teams were non-existent.

Terrorists tried anew to disrupt the 1996 Atlanta Olympics but tightened security had aborted it, defusing a bomb found near the Media Center.

And then on Monday, April 15 (American Time), two bombs went off seconds apart near the finish line of the 117th Boston Marathon, the oldest 42.2-km run in history.

Three died and more than 170 were injured in the attack against the world’s most prestigious marathon, the bombs made of pressure cookers loaded with nails, ball bearings and black powder coming nearly an hour after an Ethiopian, Lelisa Desisa Benti, won the men’s race in 2 hours, 10 minutes and 22 seconds.

The marathon typically draws half a million spectators and the carnage was a grotesque reminder once more that evil lurks in our midst unceasingly.

Only 12 years or so ago, terrorists hijacked a jet and rammed it through the famed Twin Towers of New York, killing more than 3,000, including many Filipinos and Fil-Ams who had just barely arrived at their respective offices that fateful morning of Sept. 11, 2001.

And now this, another attack on the helpless and the hapless folk that only a Godless, cowardly person or persons could so inflict with mindless impunity.

Those who died were all at the finish line.

Martin Richard, from Dorchester, Massachusetts, had just hugged his father crossing the finish line when the bomb exploded.

Martin, 8, perished.  His mother and sister survived but, as of this writing, they were still in serious condition.

Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old from Arlington, Massachusetts, also died along with a female graduate student—a Chinese national—at the Boston University.

Krystle was at the finish line waiting for her boy friend, who was merely a mile away when the bomb went off.

Each casualty has a chilling story to tell, notwithstanding that many of the 170-plus victims lying in various hospitals had their legs amputated because the second bomb was planted beneath the jam-packed grandstand near the finish line.

Why such a senseless act that aims nothing but kill continues to cripple a world still reeling from natural catastrophes like floods, typhoons and earthquakes, not to mention hunger and human trafficking, I have no explanation.  Sorry.

In times like this, I can only implore for God’s mercy.

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