Some days reality is just too much

Or maybe some weeks reality is just too much.

Like this last week.

The bombings in Boston happened while I was teaching class. I checked my phone during a break in a two hour class and saw the alerts on my phone. Then students began readings about it online. I hoped it was not real, because, really, who bombs a marathon?

But it was real.

All the shit that happened this week? In my world, it all happened in the background. This week was full of crap and was super intense for reasons I can't even explain. Maybe people were on edge. Maybe it was just me. Who knows. But it was weird. I spent all week trying to keep up with just the things I had to get done and barely did that.

Until Friday. Friday morning I woke up early. I sleep with the radio on, but the volume is so low I can barely hear it--it is generally just white noise. But Friday I could tell they were talking about the Boston bombings and that the shit that went down in Boston Thursday night. And then I heard them say, "Russia." And my first thought: Chechnya. My second thought: Well, this is new.

New in that what are the chances the Chechen Independence Movement would try to make a point at a marathon in Boston? Probably very slim. What are the chances that this whole thing was home grown? Probably very high. What are the chances that the general public and various politicians and talking heads will understand and accept this? Slim to none.

So, yes, everything during the week happened in the background. Until Friday. And then I couldn't stop following every single news report out of Boston. And every single time they showed a picture of Dzhokhar Tsarnev my heart broke just a little more. It broke for the people injured on Monday at the Marathon. It broke for those killed and their families. It broke for those who were there who ran in fear and for those who ran towards the explosion to help. And it broke because this kid they were chasing was just that: A kid. He's a 19-year old kid. He could be one of my students. He's not an innocent bystander in this, not at all, but how did he get to this point?

I want everyone who is screaming for his public execution to shut the fuck up. I want them to remember he is 1) and American citizen and 2) a human being. (And as an aside, the fact he wasn't read his Miranda rights really does tick me off.) And yelling for his blood just makes us look like a bunch of bigoted assholes.

So..... I was happy to end my week celebrating the birthday of a friend with other friends where we talked about nothing related to current events and we made fun of the usual suspects, talked about books and movies and this and that and whatever.

After this last week, it was needed.