Friday

Message 4 Boston

Boston, Two Weeks Later

by Elsa Sze, Boston

When two bombs went off at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, I was at home, merely a few miles away. Helplessly, I witnessed the horror unfold from afar. Lives were slipping away and hope was drained away from nameless faces. I started to question my belief in the goodness of humanity.

But then I read about the man with the cowboy hat, who had been photographed helping many victims. Instead of running away, many people like him, ran toward the site of the blast. Websites were soon set up to donate money, offer a couch, and even send a pizza to medical workers.

All along, basic goodness has been shining right in front of me. Yet I was blinded by the fear of exposing my heart to an unknown mixture of emotions. I realized that feeling our emotions is just being human.

There is a lot of love out there, we just need to open our hearts to feel it. So, after the lockdown, I walked around Boston with a whiteboard, a camera, and a child-like sense of curiosity. I invited strangers on the street to write a message on the whiteboard for Boston.

Photographing over a hundred people, I shared in their poignancy of sadness, gratitude, resilience, love, and sense of hope. We cried, we laughed, we hugged, and we bid farewell. Each encounter was kind, authentic, generous, and fully present.

Click on first image to view as a slideshow.

I hope these uplifting images can put a smile on your face.

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Elsa Sze is a meditator and graduate student living in Boston. Please consider sending in your own message for Boston in a photo to [email protected] and like the Facebook page Msg4Boston. More images will be added.