I had turned the news on in passing on Monday morning this week, the 19th, when a news story about bombs in New York and New Jersey was being reported. The day before, on Sunday, a bomb had gone off in Seaside, New Jersey, at the start line of a charity race. Later that night, another bomb had gone off in the Chelsea neighborhood in New York. Another bomb was found in New York, and 5 more in New Jersey. Then they had shown the picture of the suspect and moved on to another story.
Immediately, I was surprised at how I felt about this story-unconcerned. Then I was upset that I was unconcerned. How could I be so careless? Bombs are real threats, and a couple people were hurt, with only minor injuries, thankfully.
In the tumultuous world we live in, bombs and explosions have unfortunately become a daily event, not only in our country, but in countries around the world. In 2013, the nation was shocked by the Boston Marathon bombings. And many more bombings and bomb threats have occurred in the past years.
But why did I feel so apathetic towards this specific bombing story? Was it because it was not as immense as the Boston Marathon bombing event, which is still clear in our memories? But who is to say one bombing event is more dangerous than another? For Monday’s event, the story could have been different, and more people could have been hurt like at the marathon. Six other bombs were found and were able to be mostly safely taken away (one exploded during removal, but no one was hurt). Monday’s events could have played out differently. Would I have been more moved by the event then?
Bad things happen every day in the world and in our country. With all the violence, shootings, killings, and bombings, are we becoming desensitized? That is a hard question to answer, and it varies for every individual.
A lot of people even took to Twitter to joke about this bombing event. A lot of New Yorkers joked about the things they had to worry about, and listed them from number one being pushed onto the subway tracks, and number 1,000 being bombings. It brings some comfort to know that I am not the only one undaunted by this event.
Do I believe that I have been desensitized? I am not proud of it, but to a point, I would probably have to say ‘yes.’ Nobody was (thankfully) gravely hurt and the bombings occurred many states away from me. Had more people been hurt or it was closer to home for me, then I most likely would have been more upset by the event.
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Jill Augustine
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