Boston Tragedy and Altruism at its Finest: The Stories the Media Should Have Covered

"All my life I been waitin' for
I been prayin' for, for the people to say
That we don't want to fight no more
They'll be no more wars and our children will play"

-Lyrics from "One Day" by Matisyahu

I first heard about the Boston bombings via Facebook. A good friend of mine I went to medical school with was posting from the medical tents at the finish line. He's volunteered at the Boston Marathon for the past few years if I'm not mistaken. He is a 3rd year Internal Medicine resident in the Boston area. This means he is still in training towards becoming an Internist. Therefore, he has to answer to an attending or senior physician while practicing medicine.

When my friend posted on Facebook that 2 explosions went off near his tent I thought he must have been joking or that spellcheck made a mistake. The wave of emotions I experienced next was overwhelming. I texted him and messaged him as I quickly turned on the TV to see if this situation was in fact real and not something out of a bad dream. The media was replaying the explosions and footage of the massacre over and over again. Their fetish with violence and gore is disquieting. Being a physician myself I can say I've become thick-skinned with regards to blood, guts, and death. My 5-year old daughter, not so much. She asked me, "Is that real Daddy?" To which I replied, "Yes dear, sadly it is real and many people are hurt because someone wanted to be mean and hurt other people for no good reason."

Regardless, I was saddened to see horrible scenes of bloodshed and casualties bombarding my eyes from every screen and every news source or social network. Boylston Street looked more like a scene from a Middle East war zone, not downtown Boston on Patriot's Day. After many minutes of frantically checking Facebook for updates or anything from anyone who might have heard something, my friend posted that he was alive, unharmed, and beginning to take care of the casualties with his fellow physicians, nurses, first responders, and even Good Samaritans. I was relieved yet I still felt a strong wave of emotions ripple through my soul. Part of me wanted to be there with my friend to help out while another part of me was worried about my family's safety. A normal reaction to fear and stress caused by an unfortunate act of malevolence such as this event.

Scouring the social media I found several postings from friends in Boston letting everyone know they were safe and others looking for information regarding friends and family that ran the marathon or worked nearby. One friend shared a blog posting from a co-resident who ran the marathon that stayed around to assist with the mass casualty efforts. She was interviewed by a major news outlet because of her story. She was one of many physicians, first-responders, nurses, and other allied health professionals who ran in the marathon and sacrificed her safety and life to help the wounded. Innocent bystanders assumed the roles of Good Samaritans as well, helping out in whatever capacity they could. We saw true heroes that day. They put their fears, their biases, and their differences aside and came together in a time of tragedy and demonstrated such selflessness to help the fallen. Their altruism negated the terror evoked by the bombings and perpetuated by the news media.

Even in times of tragedy, there are those of us ready to put our own lives on the line regardless of the risk. This was evident in Boston on Monday April 15th, 2013, Patriot's Day. Americans, people from all over the globe, from all walks of life, put their differences aside and came together to help each other out in a time of absolute horror. They risked life and limb to do what they felt was the right thing to do. They tossed feared aside, or they embraced it, and channeled the energy to help those immobilized by fear and/or grievous injuries.

The media and social networks should have spent more time covering stories of substance, like the doctor who returned to work immediately after finishing the marathon. Or, the immigrant worker, who lost his son in Afghanistan serving our country, who helped runners missing limbs get to safety, applying tourniquets and helping first responders escort casualties to triage locations. Or the many nurses, EMTs, medical and nursing students, and a multitude of law enforcement who jumped into action. Or, the armies of mental health and clergy who began volunteering their services to help out. Their stories will sadly be lost in the ether of time as the history books will be focused on the perpetrators and the carnage they caused.