A New Conviction | Guest Post by Erin Mwanje

“Sadly, in our times, we’ve all become inured and desensitized to death and bloody mayhem unfolding on our TV screens almost nightly.”

– Stephen O’Byrnes

A year ago I was completing my final week of grad school in Cambridge, MA, planning an afternoon subway trip to the Boston Marathon. There I would watch runners struggling up “Heartbreak Hill,” a punishing one-mile climb, that precedes the final six miles of the course. It’s an emotional experience, to see men and women who have given days, months, years training, brought to the verge of despair, crying, stumbling, trembling – but pushing on and through. Such passion is inspiring; such discipline is rare.

Last night, polished newscasters spoke of limbs blown free, of bloodied streets and young death. In between advertisements for deodorant and Mazdas, we learned of bombs, explosions and terror. With ire I noticed that the newscaster concluded the story of the marathon with a plastered smile, moving smoothly onto the next news item, the weather.

To be fair, I know she is not responsible for the stories she reports nor the day’s events that guide those stories. But I have a problem with such glossy news for the same reason that I have a problem with the fact that we can go to McDonalds after a rushed 2-hour tour of the Holocaust Museum. Life is worth more than that.

Thoreau told us sagely that “the effect of good government is to make life more valuable,” and I have often thought on his remark. Do our institutions and our actions make life more or less valuable? Do our educations, our jobs and our entertainment make us value life (our own, and others), more or less?

While the acts of perhaps one person changed the lives of hundreds for the worse in many ways at the marathon, do we believe that we can have the same level of impact – but for good? Do we deeply believe that our purposeful actions can have the same degree of consequence, but in the opposite direction?

It is more likely that the days and months ahead will reveal a cohort of evil-minded terrorists behind this latest attack; but that too should increase our conviction that together we can be an immense power for healing and helping. Our united efforts have incredible power to uplift, encourage and strengthen. Equal to, and greater, than those who destroyed so many lives and limbs that day should be our purpose to give our best, to heal, to free. Are we driven with a thirst to share, uplift, and unite with those around us for good?

Let’s make the anniversary of this event one where we can look back and say, “That was the beginning of a new conviction and a new intention; that was the start of stronger ties and kinder words. The world is better and more whole because I am here.” Answer the injuries of the world with an equal measure of passion and discipline. It’s what got the marathoners to the end of the race; and it is what will get us to the end of our lives with purpose and victory.

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Bio blurb:

Erin Mwanje is the director of Williamsburg Intermediate, a project-based online school. In an effort to spread the message to the world that together we can have world-wide impact for good, the Intermediate Students will attempt the unprecedented – to send a virtual, uplifting wave to the world in 24 hours, on Tuesday April 23. Please join us by visiting wavetotheworld.org to see how you can help!