Combat Paix, by Picasso, 1962

How can one understand senseless tragedies such as the one that has forever blemished the face of the Boston Marathon.  Yet, they keep happening.  We kill and we maim.  We have a very bad reputation.

When someone is the victim of a needless tragedy, I want to trade places with the aggrieved individual.  Send me to the gas chamber, but spare my neighbour.  It’s a silly reaction, but it’s my first reaction.

Second, I hear myself say: “I’m so sorry.  I’m so very sorry.  How can I help?”  But I’m alone.  No one can hear me and there is very little I can do.

Third, I’m indignant.  “How dare you?  Isn’t life hard enough?  Why make matters worse?”

There are so many things we cannot change.  We do our best to predict earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, devastating hurricanes.  Yet they happen.  We fight diseases, epidemics, pandemics, but all too often these defeat us.  There are so many ways in which we are powerless.

But tragedies such as the Boston bombings need not happen.  They are man-made tragedies.  So this we can change.  This we must change, if we really want to…

There are so many ways in which we are powerful.

But, at the moment, I simply want to say that I feel very sorry for the victims of Monday’s bombings and for their families and friends. I would like to be with them and comfort them.

Pablo Picasso (photo credit: Wikipedia)

Blue Nude