There is no way to route a 26-mile race and safeguard everyone -- and it would be a mistake to try.

Thought you guys might like this piece from Salon.com.

A point  author makes is a point I make repeatedly with my students.  The concepts of liberty and security are fundamentally incompatible.  The more you have of one, the less you have of the other.  The most secure place on the planet is probably North Korea while if individual liberty is all you crave, Somalia is a great place to be.  Most of us want to be somewhere between those extremes.  The important thing from my perspective is that we make our choices deliberately.  We realize that measures that increase our security decrease our liberty while keeping our liberties makes us less safe.  It is important to have the debate so that we can make our decisions both collaboratively and deliberately.

We can't make life safe. In fact, we're guaranteed not to get out of it alive. Take precautions, but don't forget to live.

That's what I talked about with my daughters when we got back from Boston. Also made sure to remind them that there are way more good people in this world than bad people. Unfortunately bad people are always going to exist.

The New York City Marathon runs right through my neighborhood. It runs one block from my apartment. You better believe I will be standing there cheering on marathon day in November, just like always. I learned  at age 10 about terrorism, and was taught that living in fear doesn't keep you safe. It can happen anywhere. Fear doesn't keep you safe, but it does give them what they want. When I was 10, the summer before I entered 5th grade, my family went to Atlanta for the 1996 Olympics. We have family near Atlanta who we stayed with. We went to Centennial Park daily. My brother and I played in the fountains shaped like Olympic rings almost everyday. We bought and traded Olympic pins with vendors. Just a few nights before the concert that the bomb went off, we were in the park for a different concert. We were on the way back from viewing an event, driving by Centennial Park when a bomb went off one night. My uncle was in the park (he was ok). It can happen anywhere, any time, to anyone. We did not leaveAtlanta afrer. We changed no plans. We went to events the next day. Even went back to the park. Safety cannot be gaurenteed, but fear is no way to live.

THIS. I could choose to live life in fear or live each moment like its my last. I choose to enjoy life and find purpose within it. I was doing what I love when the bombs went off. I have never been so sure of my passion for nursing until now

We can't make life safe. In fact, we're guaranteed not to get out of it alive. Take precautions, but don't forget to live.

Love

A great quote from Obama's speech today:

 

This time next year, on the third Monday in April, the world will return to this great American city to run even harder, and to cheer even louder, for the 118th Boston marathon.

 

Bet on it.

Like I told my dad when he was angry at me doing marathons after Boston, was that my job is more dangerous and more risky than doing a marathon.  When we had a bomb/fire scare yesterday and we evacuated, I called him to let him know and to tell him see?  My job is more dangerous and you don't expect me to stop working, right?

We can only be vigilant but we cannot stop living.  I come from a high crime country where people get raped, robbed, and/or murdered (or turned on fire) every day.  Sometimes I didn't want to go out one night but still did it because life does not stop, why should you?  Always vigilant but enjoying life.

We can't make life safe. In fact, we're guaranteed not to get out of it alive. Take precautions, but don't forget to live.

Here in MA most of us use vacation days to watch or run Boston. I have only missed it once since my parents "dragged" me when I was little, and don't plan to ever miss another one. I wish that London could be televised this weekend on tv as opposed to on-line.