We will never have any earthly answers to the questions we have asked ourselves since the Boston Marathon Bombings last year. Why did a child and three young adults die violently at the hands of hate? Why did Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, and Officer Sean Collier die at the hands of unmitigated evil? Why were so many maimed? Why were Chechen brothers Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev so full of hatred that in a paroxysm of violence they destroyed or changed forever so many lives?
It is doubtful that we will ever know the answer to these painful questions. And the lack of answers creates even more pain. It is in these moments we beg for omnipotence. We prayer so hard for the answer to the question: Why did my loved one die in such a violent tragedy? But we are human, and we may never know how to answer the question that makes our souls ache with the heaviness of injustice–a heaviness in our souls compounded with the hollowness of grief.
We turn to God. We ask God these questions. But God does not respond. God’s silence does not mean He is deaf to our prayers, or unaware of our suffering. God grieves with us. In my experience, words have done nothing to console my grief. The presence of a loved one is comforting. The silent presence of a loved one helps us keep our sanity during those miserable, painful nights–the nights that we cry ourselves to sleep. Remember, when facing those nights by yourself, you are not alone. God is with you. Be aware of His Grace and Love.
God has given us free will. God does not interfere with human actions. God did not take the lives of young Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingzi Lu, and Officer Collier. Most of us believe in a loving God. Jews and Christians refer to him as “father”. When the people asked Jesus how they should pray, he said, “Our Father”. We are his children. He wishes not for us to suffer. Surely he does not randomly take the lives of his children. He cannot interfere in humanity’s everyday behaviour. If he could, he would have saved 6 million Jews from dying in the Holocaust. He would have saved Martin Richard, Krystle Campbell, Lingnzi Lu, and Officer Sean Collier.
Do not blame God, but find solace in that God grieves with us; that he too lost his children to violence. God can give us the grace and love we need to overcome such tragedy. God can give us strength.
Moreover, God can help us overcome hatred. We know he advocates love. And in striving for this love, we can begin to overcome the violence human beings unleash on one another. Here we cannot help but to point out the wisdom of little Martin Richard. Engraved in my mind is his beautiful piece of art that tells humanity, “No More Hurting People! PEACE!”
The New American Progressive
I grew up in the Old Harbor Housing Development in the Irish American neighborhood of South Boston. Currently, Southie has gained fame for being the home of gangsters, powerful politicians, and as the toughest inner city neighborhood in America. It is the home of Speaker of the House McCormick; but it’s the home of three housing projects as well. It’s the home of Senate President Bulger; but it’s also the home of Jimmy “Whitey” Bulger—the most infamous gangster of our generation.
I survived the streets of South Boston by learning to defend myself in a boxing gym with national champions and professional boxers. I still box to this day. I also am very blessed to come from a family that values education and demands top academic performance. Out of my Irish grandmother, who has her high school diploma, she had a daughter that put herself through nursing school as a single mom (my mother); out of four grandchildren, I went to Boston College High School founded in 1864 by the Jesuits as Boston College, and the girls went to Fontbonne Academy. Both are college preparatory schools run by the Jesuits and the Sisters of Saint Joseph, respectively. These Catholic orders inculcate their students with the belief that we are meant to be of service to others. Three of the four have Bachelors Degrees. One has a graduate degree, and I am a graduate degree candidate at Suffolk University in marketing. My BA is in political science.
I ran a multiplicity of Boston campaigns. I managed campaigns and was field coordinator. However, as field coordinator, my role was that of a campaign manager. I developed the theme, message, and strategy. The candidate and I start off with a SWOT analysis, and go from their. It requires tremendous trust for a public official to put her reputation in your hands, to trust you with their deepest, darkest secrets, and to develop a working relationship, so that the candidate does not need to be a campaign manager. Not all candidates are political scientists who grew up in politics and knew that campaigning was one of their callings.
I remember taking on a campaign managing role in one of my campaigns en medias res, and it was a campaign manager’s worst nightmare: I had an articulate, courageous, progressive candidate from a great Latino family, including a father who was a Boston Public School teacher. However, he knew not how to campaign. I proudly took over that campaign. That candidate went on to serve as the Boston Coordinator for Kennedy’s U.S. Senate bid.
I ran a presidential campaign for a labor union, and I needed to utilize my Southie street smarts to come out with the win.
I worked for the Obama ‘08 Campaign as a co-founder of South Boston for Obama. I then worked for him for a year in NH, where I got to meet and speak with him.
I served in two branches of government. I worked for the Committee for Public Counsel Services (public defenders), and, as an Adams, who going all the way back to John Adams, believed that the keystone to free society was fair and proper representation under the law for all people, no matter the court of public opinion.
I also worked in the legislative branch for a statesman named Senator Hart. I did constituent service work, which was so rewarding. I got to give back to a community that gave me the opportunity to achieve my dreams and goals.
As an undergraduate at Suffolk University where I served as the President of the Pre-Law Association and graduated with a 3.4 GPA, I was honored to be given a scholarship to study the effects of fascism and communism on Central Europe after writing a paper about my own family’s tragic experiences in Poland during Nazi occupation. I completed an independent study with a brilliant political scientist, Kenneth Cosgrove, PhD., author of Branded Conservatives, opened my eyes up to the ways in which conservatives successfully utilize modern marketing techniques to win elections. They shifted the country to the right with their use of marketing strategies.
I am currently an MSM (Masters in Science in Marketing) candidate at Suffolk University. I am proficient with Wordpress and Squarespace; Google Analytics; social media advertising campaigns; and other forms of marketing like STP (Segmentation, Targeting, and Positioning).
This site will be the home of my new blog that will discuss politics and marketing.
I hope my life experience and my education in these fields creates a healthy dialogue that can lead to higher truths.
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