In the wake of such a tragedy as the Boston marathon bombing, one might ask themselves "is it worth the risk to run another marathon?" I have read tweets of kids asking there parents to not run in races anymore and stories of runners that are worried about the future of the marathons. If you will allow me, I want to offer my reason for running another one. Maybe it is something that you can share with your kids and with your friends about the importance of running another race.
I put this statement as simple as I can. "If we stop running or are afraid to run, the terrorist will win." Contrary to belief a terrorist objective is not to kill a large number of people or cause massive property damage. The job of a terrorist is to terrorize. They choose death and destruction because that is what terrorizes people. IF throwing cute little kittens at people would cause terror then terrorist would drop kittens by the dozens over cities and incite global panic. So if we decide to stop running or freak out about the possibility of another attack then the terrorist will have obtained their goal of terrorizing and disrupting the peace of the people. In short the terrorist will win.
The answer to this attack is not to have a bigger army, larger missiles, or greater leaders. The answer to fighting terrorism is to not let the attacks terrorize us. By that I mean that we don't let the attacks keep us from doing what we love. By doing what we love, we fight back terrorism. Every race that we finish, every mile that we run, every step we take is a hit to the face of terrorism. A hit that is much harder than a punch, stronger than a bullet, and greater than an army. We fight terrorism by doing what we love.
So let us never forget Boston. Let us never forget those who were affected by it but let us lace those shoes and run on. Let us "Run with endurance the race that is set before us..." (Hebrews 12:1-2) Let us run, not with fear, but with courage. For that is where we will make a difference. Never give up and never stop running.
