We were very sad to hear about the terrible news yesterday of the attack on the Boston Marathon.
A horrible day for Boston but we will still be back for the Business of Software Conference, (in response to the email we had asking if the conference will still be going ahead, err, yes). Like millions of other people, we will continue to come to Boston, one of the world’s great cities.
To all those affected, you are very much in our thoughts. Boston, while in understandable shock, is already bouncing back.
People in Boston are running again in defiance of the attack. Stories of normal people who became heroes are emerging. The great thing about humans is that they can overcome almost anything together in extraordinarily difficult times and it is testament to the power of the human spirit that the most common reaction from the crowds gathered at the finish line when the bombs went off was not to run away to safety, but to run to the point where they felt they could offer the most help.
Almost 30 years ago, terrorists tried to assassinate the British Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher and her entire Cabinet at the Conservative Party Conference by exploding a bomb in the early morning at the hotel in which the government were staying.
The conference was scheduled to start at 9.00 am the next morning and the immediate reaction from many was to cancel the conference. It started, at 9.30 and this is what Margaret Thatcher had to say.
The old Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, said this after the 7 July 2005 bombings…
“In the days that follow look at our airports, look at our sea ports and look at our railway stations and, even after your cowardly attack, you will see that people from the rest of Britain, people from around the world will arrive in London to become Londoners and to fulfil their dreams and achieve their potential. They choose to come to London, as so many have come before because they come to be free, they come to live the life they choose, they come to be able to be themselves… …nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our city where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.”
Swap ‘London’ for ‘Boston’ and the same words apply.
Whatever your political views and outlook, whatever your definition of what constitutes a, ‘terrorist act’, they are words to live by.
Read this – The Boston Marathon Bombing: Keep Calm and Carry On.
I know we are all sending you good thoughts and we can’t wait to come back and visit your amazing city and spend time with the awesome people that live there.