It's Over

Last night I finally went to see "Book of Mormon", the award-winning musical from the creators of "South Park". I was all set to tell you about the experience for today's blog post, but then all hell sort of broke loose again and I couldn't pull myself away from the television to actually write all my thoughts down (I'll save it for Monday). I got out of Boston a little after midnight last night, which means I just missed all the extreme craziness when the two alleged bombers from the Marathon killed an MIT police officer, carjacked another person, lead police on a chase to neighboring Watertown once that driver escaped and then got into a shootout with police in which one of the suspects was killed while the other escaped, all of which forced the city to go into lockdown. Of course, I didn't discover this until I got home and then like everyone else who was awake at that hour I was glued to the television, hoping for a swift conclusion. Obviously that didn't happen and eventually I reached the point of being too tired to watch anymore and hoped I would read about an arrest the next morning. Unfortunately for the people who live in Watertown the situation was waiting for me when I woke up.

I had vowed that after Wednesday's "There has been an arrest...Never mind.... No, he's in custody... Wait, forget we said anything." debacle that I wasn't going to get sucked into watching any more media coverage until there was actual news to report. But, even though the news didn't change from when I turned it on until about 7 o'clock this evening when the suspect was finally surrounded, I couldn't help but keep the TV on in the background just in case something changed. I'm glad I did because the media was about to call it a day when the suspect was finally spotted and I would have hated to miss that. After all, Boston has been so wrapped up in this story for the last week that to miss the conclusion would have been annoying. So, instead I stayed in my own personal lockdown in the burbs, miles away from the action but somehow just as obedient as if it was happening a couple streets away. It was strange, but even around these parts the streets were much more quiet than usual. The few times a car traveled down my street it was actually jarring and even though it was school vacation week I never saw many neighborhood kids out running around. Honestly, at a few points the silence was deafening.

Speaking of the lockdown, I have to say I was amazed at how well people behaved during all those hours. A few websites compiled a collage of pictures taken from webcams and Twitter accounts from people in the city and for several hours Boston looked like downtown Chernobyl. (If you ever wanted to do 120 on the Pike today was your chance, because all the cops were in Watertown.) The lockdown was in place not because the police thought the suspect was on this side of the river but more in case they needed to get people from the city over to Watertown in a hurry, which meant there was no immediate safety risk for the people downtown. Essentially the police and FBI were asking people to just stay inside and out of there way, exhibiting a little common sense. Since there are knuckleheads in every corner of the Globe (and Boston has filled its quota), I fully expected to turn on my TV and see Sully, Fitzy, Obie and Murph walking through the Common like nothing happened. Instead, everyone was very obedient, which is not something you usually say about the people in this city. I guess it just goes to show you how truly freaked out Monday's bombing had made us all.

That level of paranoia is why I totally understood the emotional outpouring which occurred after the second suspect was taken into custody, when even the cops broke into applause and the Watertown residents who had been trapped inside all day long came out and cheered for each cruiser that drove passed. I know to some it may seem inappropriate to cheer when someone is being arrested, but I will totally defend it in this instance. This man had been Boston's boogeyman for the better part of a week and we had clearly had enough of being terrorized by him. Plus, I'm going to give people the benefit of the doubt and say they understood how important taking him alive was. While no answer he gives as to why he and his brother decided to do this will ever be able to satisfy the families of the dead and the maimed, at least the option of getting answers exists. If he died in a stand-off with police he would have taken that opportunity to the grave with him. I guess crappy closure is still better than none at all. So, thanks to the Boston and Watertown police and fire units, the local FBI office, the transit authority, all the first responders and everyone who kept this city from spiraling out of control over the last few days. It's because of them the residents of Boston have the chance to get things back to normal. It's not going to be a quick recovery, but I have no doubt is it going to happen.