I feel like I should write something about the Boston Marathon today... or Patriot day, or the Red Sox game today... I'll leave that to TriSec.

Looking over these pictures makes me melancholy. I sometimes long for a time when we didn't have security and agents at every event or turn of the corner here in this nation. I know how we got here, and I often believe we took it all too far over a decade ago.

I think of friends and acquaintances who have been transferred (sent) to areas all over the world. Some have left for Pakistan, Australia, Saudi Arabia; soon, we will be bidding farewell to friends that are going to Russia. Yes - Russia.

This is their job, this is where they have to go. The thing is, these are real people, with families and pets and friends. They help to provide security to our nation from abroad. Some provide diplomatic relations, some do environmental work. Some work for the Government some for NGO's. These jobs existed long before that horrible day. People have been doing this long before we got to where we are today.

It is easy to rail against some sectors of our government as though it were all one evil monolithic dark entity, but the reality is there are good people doing honest, good work. They - like our first responders here on our soil and our soldiers in the armed services - sometimes risk their lives to make us safer.

Some parts of our Government like the NSA have overreached, but for the most part it is important to realize who the real enemy is: people who would kill for fundamentalist reasons. They sometimes live among us on our soil, as evidenced one year ago today, and less than a week ago. When not deranged extremists, we often see troubled people, as evidenced in Columbine, Aurora and Newtown.

I don't know if we will ever stop evil, but I do know that I appreciate the very real, living breathing friends I have made that do the work they do, even if sometimes they can't give all the details. I am glad to share meals and beverages with these people. I am glad to have them visit our home and share conversation and laughter even for just a little while.

The world isn't as black and white as some might see it. It's complex and beautiful.

I wish the very best to all the People of Boston and all of their visitors today.

and
Raine


Update: I forgot to mention something else today is.