Resilience Does Tend to Follow Horror

A horror like yesterday's has many layers of impact. There are the immediate victims of the bombings on Boylston Street and their families. There are the marathon spectators who escaped any physical harm but witnessed the madness up close. There are the rescue workers who boldly rushed into the gruesome scene. There are those who call the city home and hold its memories dear to heart. And outward from central Boston to the television screens that represent the communal edge of it all.

Little of comfort can be said at such times, and in many ways that's as it should be. Grief and sorrow will help us remember. Empathy and anger will help us respond. If tragedies like 9/11 have taught us anything more uplifting, however, it's that while some of us will understandably remain traumatized by the horrible events of April 15, 2013, a great many of us will look them in the face and emerge quite resilient.