I believe in the good

"If you are losing faith in human nature, go out and watch a marathon."

                    ~Katherine Switzer (first woman to run the Boston Marathon)

Call me naive, but I believe in the goodness of humanity.  I believe we are born with kindness and empathy.  I see it in my first graders every day.  Even in those that have seen worse than I have in their short years of life.  I see in their eyes that all they really want is to love and be loved.  And I believe that the vast majority of us keep that goodness until the end.

If there is hate in us, it has been learned.  It has been taught.  We are not born with hatred in our blood.  It is put there.  It is absorbed.  And a very small few of us out there can't seem to push away or move beyond that hate.  A very very few of us.  But they are the ones that make the headlines.  They seem to be louder than the rest of us.  In a year that seems to be plagued with tragedy after tragedy, it could certainly seem like there is more hate than love.

But in the ever-intelligent words of Mr. Rogers:

"When I was a boy and would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, 'look for the helpers.  You will always find people who are helping.'"

Today, as I heard of the events unfolding in Boston, it wasn't hate I saw.  I saw goodness.  In the people who tried to help.  In the runners who ran from the finish line straight to the nearest hospital to donate blood. In the hopes and prayers and kind thoughts that flooded and continue to flood Facebook and Twitter.  In the outpourings of donations that crashed the Red Cross's website.  In the strength of runners.

Whoever did this for whatever reason will soon learn that runners are among the most resilient out there.  We will not walk away from this with our tails between our legs.  We will come back stronger.  I'd be surprised if today doesn't result in a record day for marathon registrations.  The Boston Marathon is every runner's dream.  And I'm fairly certain that will not change after today.  It certainly won't for me.

We will keep running.  Have no doubt in that.

I'm sending all my good thoughts to those affected by today's events.  I hope you don't lose faith in the goodness of human nature.  There's so much good out there in the world, don't let the little bit of hate outshine that.

My next run is for you.