...is that, as much as one would like to ignore the psychological shrapnel terrorism spews, as much as one would like to not "give in" to terror, it's just not possible.
Terrorism works. It works because when you witness your own body being ripped open, or the bodies of others being ripped open, those visions do not leave you. As much as you would like not to "give in" to terror, there's nothing that can be done. Fear for the randomness, the inhumanity, the suffering is unavoidable.
Ask the journalists who covered what happened today in Boston, some of whom will soon exhibit PTSD symptoms. They'll tell you. Bearing witness to terror cannot be shrugged off with a pep talk.
I know this personally. I dealt with the trauma for years. The wreckage, the psychological demons that haunted me after the terrorist attack that threw my wife across a blood-streaked floor and punctured her body with shrapnel.
I, the secondary victim, the caretaker. I couldn't avoid "giving in" to terror. Nor could my friends, further removed. Nor could their friends, even further removed.
Now, I love Laurence Lewis, and I respect fully his message that, today, we must not let terrorism win. We must embrace those we love, we must embrace life, and we must sing the beauty of that which we have.
And to this, I say, "Yes."
But I also say, "There are those who just can't. And that is simply life as it must be."