On Monday the city of Boston celebrated Patriot’s Day with
its annual running of the Boston Marathon.
The Boston Marathon originated in 1897.
In that year they had somewhere around 15 participants. Since then the number of participants has
swelled each year. It has become one of
the largest marathons in the world and is one of the six World Marathons Majors.
Boston has always considered its place in history with pride
and honor. The first battles of the Revolutionary
War took place in Lexington and Concord, miles from Boston. In order to commemorate the enormity and
symbolism of the birth of the United States and its independence and liberty,
Boston has designated the third Monday in April as Patriot’s Day. As part of the city’s celebration, the annual
Boston Marathon is run on the same day.
I imagine it was difficult for the first planners of the
race to envision what the race was going to become. With 15 participants in the first race, they
would have had no idea the numbers would swell to over 20,000 annual
runners. In 1996, its centennial race, the
Boston Marathon set the world record for participants with 38,768 entrants,
36,748 runners and 35,868 finishers. In
2013, there were 23,336. Those runners
came from 92 different countries and every state in the Union. In addition they represented 35 official
charities and numerous causes, including Sandy Hook Elementary. Not to mention the 500,000 spectators who come
to celebrate human achievement by cheering on the runners.
We all know how the race ended in 2013. 3 dead and 175 injured. Unfortunately, senseless violence has become
a part of our lives. Whether it is
terrorist actions using explosives or mass shootings in schools or other public
forums, we have lost our innocence.
It would be easy for us to live in fear or paranoia and
become untrusting of our society. That
is the evil trap we have to avoid. I
believe we have to focus on the selfless acts of heroism and the countless
stories of ordinary people doing extraordinary things to help each other get
through these times. We have to continue
to find the good in our neighbors and try to inspire the world through our
Christ-like behaviors. It is not
easy.
Do you think there has been an increase in the amount of
violence in our society? What do you
think is causing people to turn to violent acts? What do you think we can do as a society to
decrease acts of violence? What can we
do for Boston to help the city and its people recover?
Kylee-yes I do think there has been an increase in the violince in our world beacuse there is more technology in this world for people to plan these things. What I think is turning people to violent acts is that people in our country arent gettting the education that is needed for them to make the right choices. Also because they might have been raised by a bad family. i think one thing we can do to decrease acts of violence is to spread the word of god and to do things that might be a risk to your life but might save someone elses life. What we can do to help Boston recover is to tell them that we care and we are in this with them anbd no matter what we will stay strong and stay united.
ReplyDeleteJack-there has been an increase in the violence in this world Violence is every where and we should stop it. More bombs and guns than ever and we should try to limate that as much as posible.
ReplyDeleteClaire- There has been an increase in violence in our society because we are starting to hear more stories of people committing numerous crimes. I think religion and nationality are causing people to turn to violent acts because if someone was a different religion than someone else, that person could bomb the other one's church. Nationality also plays a role in violent acts today like the issues in North Korea. All we can do as a society to decrease acts of violence is to promote peace, and to not promote violence. Something we can do for Boston to help the city and its people recover is to raise money for the people injured, and let them know that our prayers go out to them.
ReplyDeleteGrace- There has been an increase in the amount of violence in our society. From 9-11 to what happened at the movie theater in Denver, Colorado to Sandy Hook Elementary to the Boston Marathon, we live in a society of terror. I believe that one of the causes of people turning to violent acts is mental problems. Some people are getting the wrong ideas and thoughts about things and people, which is unecessary. To help decrease the number of violent acts, we need better education programs. Some bad decisions that have been made by bad people are influenced by childhood memories. Someone could have grown up in a school environment that had certain ideas about things or that weren't aware of what is going on out of the teacher's sights, such as bullying. Someone could have been bullied as a kid and wants to get their revenge. You never know what could happen. We should go and volunteer to help clean up the physical damages of the cities, and go and volunteer at hospitals to help cheer kids and people up.
ReplyDeleteVictoria- I think that there has been a increase in our society's violence. This year a lot of bad thing have happened and many have died.. i also think that maybe we should educate the world better in decision making such as telling the difference between right and wrong in all situations. To decrease acts of violence we should get kids well they are young to be educated. To help Boston we can pray a lot and maybe donate some money for the kids and adults who were hurt in this tragedy.
ReplyDeleteMargaret - I do think that there has been a increase in our society because more people are getting killed and more terrific things are happening. I think that drugs, mental issues, and being around violence and thinking it's ok can cause it. I think that if we reach out to more people and help them get over their violence issues could help people a lot. I think to help the city in Boston we can pray and give remberance to the people who died and the people who were heroes.
ReplyDeletewelles- i do think that there has been an increased amount of violence from 9-11, to the movie sooting, Sandy Hook shooting, and Now the boston bombing. i think the what is causing this is that people are abusing drugs, have a problem and are mad at the world so they go hurt people. we can try to educate people so that they learn from others mistakes/ tragitties. we can pray for Boston and everyone who was effected. also we can be praying at home and at school for them
ReplyDeleteMackenzie-yes I would say that the number of violence increased because we have found and made new thing people have found ways to make those good thing into bad things.I ink that now more than ever people want to get their names in the paper and don't care who gets hurt. I think that the united states should focus more on equality more than having people above each other. We can help raise money to pay for the medical bills and building bill of the people.
ReplyDeleteSam-I think that there has been an increase of violence in our society. It’s interesting that there is no real motive for the crimes. From what I have seen there has been an increase in violence and something needs to be done about that. What I think that is causing people to turn to violent acts is the economy. In its current state, the economy is not what it used to be. When people aren’t in work or homeless, you lose hope. This eventually turns into desperation in which people feel that they have no options left. There is the possibly that these acts of violence are just a coincidence. This could just be a bad luck streak for all we know. What we can do as a society is to make sure that the wrong people don’t get hold of the equipment that eventually results in acts of violence. If a certain item is being abused by the general public then take it off the shelves. One of the best things that we can do for Boston and its victims is to just pray to God to take care of them. That they may find the Love of God.
ReplyDeleteMadeline- In our society, the amount of violence has been increasing. Mental illness, violent videogames, and violent movies are some reasons of why people are turning to violent acts. In our society we can do our part to make everybody feel welcome and loved so that people will not feel the need to harm others. In Boston we can pray for the people that died, or are injured.
ReplyDeleteElizabeth- The increase on violence today is major. We have so many murders and bombings and bomb threats. Something that might be calling people to do violent things might be the technology that we have maybe people use it as a way of hurt another. Some other factors that might cause people to be violent is mental issues we need to be more aware when people are mental and become or say things that might hurt someone or something.To help the people in Boston recover we can pray for the people that are hurt or the people that lost someone. Another way we could help is by if you know someone how lives in Boston or was in the Boston marathon you could call them and make sure they're ok and safe.
ReplyDeleteCharlie- I think that the increase on violence today is huge. There are violent video games that definitely are not helping this situation, also all the bombing and crazy people are just increasing violence. We need to increase the detail in background checks to prevent people with mental issues to potentially hurt someone. We need to pray and keep the people of Boston in our hearts.
ReplyDeleteHenry- Yes, I think there has been an increase in violence ever since the shooting deaths of two NFL players. I think that the way that their life is going is influencing their decisions. Besides the bombing suspects. I think that we can increase the security at local and global events. We can just send our prayers to them.
ReplyDeleteIsaiah- I think that there is definitely an increase in violence and it has just totally spiked. I don't think most of it is because people just feel like doing it. I think it is because of mental illness. Well to help Boston we can obviously pray. There were already people that were lending stranded strangers there bed. There had been a great disaster that day but many more miracles
ReplyDeleteGraci- Yes, I think there has been an increase in violence in our society. First, there were shootings in movie theaters and schools and now there is a bombing in a marathon full of innocent people. Things that may be turning people to violent acts are people's race, nationality, religion or ethnicity, mental issues and/or violent games. To decrease violent acts in our society, we can increase security and promote peace. To help Boston we can pray for those who were affected, visit people in hospitals and try raise money for those who were badly injured. I hope that the people in Boston will never have to experience anything like this again.
ReplyDeleteAustin- I think the amount of violence in our society is increasing. All the crazy things that have gone on recently has for sure increased the violence. I think that people are doing these things because they don't know what to do with there life. They don't feel like they belong on earth. I think to decrease the violence we need to be more carful who we give weapons to. I think to help Boston we need to support them and help then in there times recovering form the tragedy.
ReplyDeleteRobert Fritz- I don't think that there is really and advance in violence in our society because all these things like the Boston Marathon happen all the time. People die because of a gun fire or a bomb but it just doesn't hit the news as hard as some thing like a huge competition like the Boston Marathon. I think that being poor and needing money is one of the reasons because when you are desperate you try desperate things. Another thing causing violence is a mental problem that makes you crazy and think that you must kill people because a voice in your head supposedly told you to. As a society to decrease acts of violence I would help mentally ill people overcome their problem. All that we can do to help the recovery is pray for the families and people involved in this tragedy. Cracking down on people to do good things more often wouldn't hurt too.
ReplyDeleteEmile-There has defiantly been an increase of violence in our society but most of the violence sadly is terrorist at these events that are more major. Hatred tords the U.S. for being a democracy and a country for global help which is not liked by all countries or people in the countries and, honestly we cant do anything about terrorism its sad but true because the people who made that bomb made it at home and really any one could but we can't monitor that because it would be violating all of are civil rights. Let time pass that is really the only way to recover and its the only way we can get through this and by the end of the day America is still strong and stands tall and independent. I am Emile Murdock and i approve this message.
ReplyDeleteEmily- There has been an increase in our society.It's all because when one thing happens, other terrorists would think 'This is my chance' and do something horrible and all they can do is hope that they won't get caught. There really isn't anything that we could do to stop terrorists and other people from doing what they want, but we can try. All that we can do for Boston is to visit the ones who were injured or lost a loved one to that bomb.
ReplyDeleteBen- there has been a large increasment of violents which i find very horrific the boston bombing was another day terroist came to ruin are day and be mean
ReplyDeleteMckai- I think a decrees because kids do violence in video. I think it is not us I think it is the mentally ill people almost all violent acts are fund those people are mental ill like batman. Haven extra security in every school. Pray in our hearts for them.
ReplyDelete