Dane Stier of the Northwestern Chronicle notes that while Northwestern is far from Boston, many students at the school have friends and family in Boston.

Boston Hits Close to Home

Imagine you’re standing in the beautiful city of Boston on a gorgeous spring day. Imagine being surrounded by 500,000 excited people from all around the world. Imagine witnessing months of incredibly hard work pay off. Imagine seeing joyous families proudly embrace one another. Imagine seeing thousands of people celebrate a great physical achievement. Imagine being part of one of the most inspiring events in the world.

Now imagine all that coming to a sudden and tragic end. On Monday, April 15, for more than 20,000 runners, no imagination was needed. For them, nothing was more real than the dark reality that months of preparation and anticipation ended with 3 deaths and almost 150 injuries. As authorities continue to investigate the explosions that occurred near the Boston Marathon’s finish line, we can only hope that those responsible are brought to justice.

At Northwestern, as for all across the country, this incident hit close to home. For many of us, Boston is the home of friends or family. Since the tragedy, I’ve seen Facebook posts by friends (Northwestern alumni) who were at the marathon. I’ve heard fellow Wildcats in class discuss how they were friends or neighbors of some of the victims. And for me, anxiety hit like a freight train when I realized my girlfriend, who volunteered at the marathon, had been at the finish only 30 minutes before the explosions. This tragedy has affected all of us in one way or another, and will continue to do so.