Our hearts go out to the families who lost loved ones, to the many who were injured, and to those who were there to help during the senseless bombings in Boston yesterday during the Marathon. We try to make sense of violence but the truth is that it is incomprehensible.
We do know and do understand from our work with families that we are strong of spirit and resilient by nature. We will pray for our neighbors in Boston to heal and to move forward with confidence and strength. The words of Rabbi David Thomas from Boston below moved me, and I’d like to share them with you.
With warmest regards,
Lois Braverman
President and CEO, Ackerman Institute for the Family
The Boston Marathon – April 15, 2013
“More than 20,000 people ran. Everyone hoped to finish. Most ran for the personal challenge. Thousands ran for charity – to beat cancer, or Parkinson’s or Autism. Very few ran hoping they would actually win the race.
More than 500,000 people watched and cheered. They were witnesses to strength, perseverance, grace, rhythm, sweat and tears and triumph. They came to celebrate the power of the human body, mind and spirit. They came to honor human kindness and generosity. They came to support friends, family members and strangers who were doing something extraordinary.
We will mourn the dead. We will cry with those who lost loved ones or limbs. We will help them heal. And as we do, we will rededicate ourselves to everything the Marathon stands for – strength and power and courage, generosity and kindness and mutual support.”
–Rabbi David Thomas