Terrorism And Suffering, And The Hope Of The Gospel

BOSTON (AP) — The boy who was killed in the Boston Marathon bombings was remembered by neighbors Tuesday as a vivacious 8-year-old who loved to run and climb.

Martin Richard was among the three people killed in the explosions Monday, according to U.S. Rep. Stephen Lynch, a friend of the family for 25 years. The boy’s mother, Denise, and 6-year-old sister, Jane, were badly injured. His brother and father were also watching the race but were not hurt.

They had gone to get ice cream, then returned to the area near the finish line. Neighbor Jack Cunningham said Martin’s father was a runner but had been injured and didn’t run the marathon.

"They were looking in the crowd as the runners were coming to see if they could identify some of their friends when the bomb hit," Lynch said. He described the family as very strong and said they were doing better than might be expected.

On Tuesday morning, candle burned on the stoop of the family’s single-family home in the city’s Dorchester section, and "peace" was written in chalk on the front walkway. A child’s bicycle helmet lay overturned on the front lawn.

"What a gift. To know him was to love him," said longtime friend Judy Tuttle, who remembered sitting at the dining room table having tea with Denise Richard while Martin did his homework. "He had that million-dollar smile and you never knew what was going to come out of him. Denise is the most spectacular mother that you’ve ever met and Bill is a pillar of the community. It doesn’t get any better than these people."

Neighbor Betty Delorey, 80, said Martin loved to climb the neighborhood trees and hop the fence outside his home.

"I can just remember his mother calling him, ’Martin!’ if he was doing something wrong," she said. "Just a vivacious little kid."

Delorey had a photo showing Martin dressed as the character Woody from the Toy Story films, wearing a cowboy hat, a sheriff’s badge, jeans and a big smile. His sister, Jane, was at his right dressed as Woody’s friend, Jesse. Their older brother, Henry, was to their left, dressed as Harry Potter.

"I’m sick to my stomach," she said. "It’s hard to say anything really."

The children’s father, Bill, is the director of a local community group, and an avid runner and bicyclist.

Denise Richard works as a librarian at the Neighborhood House Charter School, where Martin was a third-grader and Jane attends first grade.

Counselors were being made available Tuesday to staff and students, said Bodi Luse, a school spokeswoman.

"We are devastated," she said. "The whole community is devastated."

Cunningham remembered running in a community 5K race with the Richard family on a rainy day years ago. He said Martin would jump out of a stroller that his mother was pushing to hop in the mud puddles along the route.

"I just can’t get a handle on it," he said of the boy’s death. "In an instant, life changes.

-This story was written by Bridget Murphy of the Associated Press and published on legacy.com

April 15 in Boston, MA is usually a day of celebration. In fact, there are 4,860 MLB games in the regular season, only one of them starts with an AM time – April 15 at Fenway Park in Boston. Much of America’s rich history, particularly history of our nation’s founding, is in and near Boston. But the events of six days ago, when not only the City of Boston, the State of Massachusetts, but the entire United States of America was attacked by coward criminals who were radicalized by those who hate American and the things we stand for – life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness, and above all, religious freedom. The brothers responsible for the murder of three Americans, as well as the injuries of dozens of others, will face justice. One brother, the 26 year old radical, faced justice at the hands of the law enforcement professionals before facing standing before God to be judged for eternity. Currently, his younger brother, age 19, is in a heavily guarded hospital being treated for multiple wounds. He will face the judgment of American law.

This past week and a half, April 14 – 20, is quite possibly the most tragic days in American history. For within these 10 days contains events that changed our country or our way of life.

Abraham Lincoln Assassination - April 14, 1885 – President Lincoln’s assassination took place on Good Friday, 1965, just five days after the south surrendered to the north, bringing an end to the AMericna Civil War. He sat in the balcony, stage right, of Ford’s Theatre, on that Friday evening to watch the play. Lincoln’s bodyguard had left his post to visit the tavern across the street with Lincoln’s coach driver. That allowed John Wilkes Booth to enter the Presidential Box and assassinate the POTUS.