Aftermath: Caitlin Fitz Gerald

[ Charles Cameron, introducing Caitlin Fitz Gerald ]

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I was among those deeply moved by Caitlin Fitz Gerald‘s post, Boston’s Best Day, which I quoted from two days ago, and today she posted a series of tweets which again struck me. Knowing Caitlin’s love of visual expression, I invited her to take those tweets and make a guest post of them here, with an illustration should she so choose.

Her post, both text and its illumination, follows:

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Turns out I hate the theater of this. I don’t want to hear politicians talk about what happened, or about how strong we are, or anything. I just want the professionals to do what they do, find the people who did this, and along the way to keep us as informed as they can without compromising what they’re doing. I want people to grieve in their way, I don’t want this to be a political speech opportunity. Let our local religious leaders offer comfort and our community leaders direction. I’m sure others feel differently, and if it offers comfort to others, that’s wonderful, but I’ve been surprised how very much I don’t want to hear speeches from, e.g. the President on this. And if focus is on anyone, it should be on the medics and doctors and nurses and cops and firefighters and regular old people who helped each other. People keep calling them heroes, which is nice but almost undercuts the absolute gobsmacking amazingness of what they actually are: regular, good people whose instinct in a crisis was to help other people. Isn’t that more incredible than needing some superlative hero in a time like this? Isn’t it more amazing that what looks like heroism is really just what people are? How remarkable, that we all have that capacity in us. It’s not extraordinary, it’s miraculously ordinary.

Caitlin Fitz Gerald, Aftermath