The Unsung Tragedy of the Boston Bombing

So, last week was a crazy week! Explosions, bombings, shootings, earthquakes, tons of people hurt, lots of people dead/missing. It was a tragic week for us in America, but America wasn't the only place where tragic things happened, they happened all over the world, and last week wasn't the only week that tragic things happened, they happen every day. If you really watch the news and monitor world events constantly it would be pretty depressing because there is tragedy/violence/loss of life/insanity every day, all over. Sadly, a lot of these tragedies go completely unnoticed except for those directly involved in them.


The Boston Bombing last week was a shocking event that left close to 200 injured on various forms and 3 dead. First of all, I want to echo that, while the loss of any life is awful, and especially when one of those lives was little 8 year old Martin Richard, the fact that only 3 were killed is amazing. There was the potential for so much more loss of life. There was round-the-clock news coverage of the event, stories from and about the survivors, and tons of stories about those who were killed, but there is at least one tragedy that was only briefly touched upon.

Tamerlan Tsarnev 26, one of the brothers suspected of committing the bombing at the Boston Marathon, was killed Friday in a shootout with police. He was run over by his brother, Dzhokhar Tsarnev 19, who was fleeing the scene. I'm not sure if he was killed by gunfire or by the car, but either way, he was killed. He had a 3-year-old daughter.

This little girl is a huge tragedy of these events! There is not a lot of news out there about here, but from what I have seen and read, Tamerlan's wife, Katherine Tsarnev, worked 70-80 hours/week and Tamerlan stayed home with their daughter. Despite who he was, or what he may have done/probably did do, he was still this little girl's daddy, and at 3, I'm sure she loved him with everything she was. Friday she lost her daddy.

Having a 3-year-old daughter myself, this just struck me as so tragic. Trying to imagine what this little girl is feeling right now, how her mom had to explain to her that her daddy wasn't coming home again, and then on top of that, her mom knowing how he died, and what he was suspected of. In addition, she lost her Uncle as well... I'm sure that none of that is told to this little girl, but it all just adds up to be a devastating situation.

In situations like this, it is incredibly easy to feel compassion for the public victims, and easy to ignore the people that were closest to the suspects, but it is important to remember that, while these brothers probably committed a terrible crime, they were still people, people who loved people, people who others loved, and their actions, and the consequences of their actions had serious effects on those who loved them. These are the unsung tragedies.

As a final note, no matter who they are, or what they have done, God loves these people, just as He loves you and me, and they deserve forgiveness, just as much as you and me, which really means none of us deserve it, but God offers it freely anyway, and while we can rejoice in criminals being brought to justice, we should not rejoice in their death, no matter how evil they seem to be.

So while we #prayforboston in general don't forget:
Click to Tweet: The forgotten victim of the #BostonBombing: A little girl lost her daddy last week. #prayfortamerlansdaughter http://bit.ly/YKUzCk