After the Marathon… “Look for the helpers…”

The Labor Guild family sends heartfelt prayers and our deepest condolences to each victim, to each family member and friend, and to our beloved hometown.

We grieve for each of our wounded sisters and brothers. So many have life-altering injuries. We pray for their physical recovery and a meaningful emotional recovery.

For those of us who are from Boston, the sheer malevolence of this tragedy is difficult to absorb or fathom.

Yet in this terrible sadness, we are lifted up by the amazing people who surround us.  

We are incredibly moved by the courage, kindness, and selfless dedication of the first responders –so many of whom are local union members: Boston police, EMTs, firefighters, nurses, doctors, the staffs of our great teaching hospitals, media personnel, the Marathon volunteers, organizers and sponsors, National Guard, runners coming off the course, and gallant bystanders, who jumped into action. All across Greater Boston, there’s been a remarkable outpouring of folks opening their homes, providing meals and transportation to Marathoners and their families.  

Seeing the utter determination of our local, state and federal public safety officials, we wish them every success in discovering the perpetrators who inflicted so much pain and human suffering on innocent bystanders and athletes.  We’ve lost a vibrant 8-year-old boy, a sunny much-loved 29-year-old young woman rooting for her runner boyfriend, and a BU grad student from China there with friends to experience a Boston tradition.  Each had a world of possibiities ahead of them.

Many years ago, the late Fred Rogers of “Mr. Rogers” fame,  comforted and advised his young viewers that his mother always said “look to the helpers” whenever a tragedy occurred.  It reminds grown-ups of that great truth, too.

Fred Rogers “Look to the helpers…”

Here are a couple things you may want to act on:

• If you were attending the Marathon in the Back Bay, the FBI and Boston Police have asked that you email any photos or videos be emailed to: Boston@ic.fbi.gov .  Don’t pre-judge or erase those images, just send them along, urges Colonel Timothy Alben, superintendent of the Massachusetts State Police.   “I would encourage you to bring forward anything. You might not think it’s significant , but it might have some value to this investigation,” he told the media.
• Are there children in your life who are having difficulties coping with news of the attack? Please take a look at these basic recommendations of Dr. Clare McCarthy from Children’s Hospital.
• Are there people in your life who are prone to depression or suffer from PTSD.  Take the time to reach out to them.  If and when needed, encourage and support someone to connect with crisis counseling,