Honoring Boston

This has been a trying week. Even with the apprehension of the Boston bombing “suspects”, I hope everyone will continue to keep the people of Boston and the brave first responders in your prayers as they recover from the heinous acts perpetrated there. Hopefully with a suspect alive the families and victims can finally get answers to questions that have been on everyone’s mind for the last week. What happened in Boston last week was a shock to everyone. No amount of preparation and security can prepare us as a nation for the wanton destruction that occurred on Monday. What is important now is how we proceed.

The objective of terrorism is to coerce a population through intimidation and fear. We’ve seen this before with acts such as Oklahoma City, 9/11 and others. To make us change who we are in hopes of becoming a “fortress America” or appeasing those who wish to do us harm. This was one of the great issues of the Cold War when the fear of nuclear obliteration was at the forefront of people’s minds. No amount of legislation or security can stop somebody who is intent to commit these acts and mitigating these dangers, would require society to fundamentally transform into something that wouldn’t resemble the America that any of us grew up in. That personal liberties and values should give up willingly in hopes of being “secure”.

What is important going forward is that this doesn’t happen. You can be angry, upset, unnerved, all those things are normal in the aftermath of an attack such as this. Just don’t let those emotions drive you into sacrificing the liberties and freedoms that make us who we are. People on both sides will try to use this to their political advantage; to squash things like immigration reform (we aren’t doing enough to weed the bad people out...) and ongoing diplomatic efforts with countries such as Pakistan and Russia.

Those who profit off nativism, racial tensions and hatred are playing exactly into what these terrorists wanted. To reshape America into something that doesn’t resemble the melting pot and accepting culture we strive to be. Legislation aiming to make people safer must be carefully examined in the coming months as everyone knows that a long standing principle is not to let a tragedy go to waste.

It is time to rebuild and move forward. The best way to show the resoluteness of our nation is to press forward and show the world that you can try to intimidate, to force us into submission, but that the greatest thing about our nation is the indomitable nature of the people who reside in it. The people of Boston showed that this week.

Reprinted from 5th District State Sen. Curt Thompson's (D-Tucker) blog. Thompson represents parts of unincorporated Duluth, Norcross, Tucker, and Lawrenceville. Also, check the senator out on Facebook and Twitter.