One allegedly violent 19-year-old boy pretty much shut down our fine city of Boston last Friday. Not to mention the terrible damage he and another are believed to have wrought on innocent lives near the marathon finish line on Monday. Now four young people are dead and scores injured as result of the bombing suspects' actions.

1. One allegedly violent 19-year-old boy pretty much shut down our
fine city of Boston last Friday. Not to mention the terrible damage he
and another are believed to have wrought on innocent lives near the
marathon finish line on Monday. Now four young people are dead
and scores injured as result of the bombing suspects' actions.
The Power of One
Lama Surya Das

2. Why? Will we ever really know? As authorities are working to get to the
bottom of this, and prevent similar possible future crimes, let's together
strive to get to root causes and origins of our violent society and era, and
genuinely do something about it.
As our city and surrounding suburban towns were in lockdown, forcing us
to hide in our homes and stay off the streets, while the suspect(s) were
intensely pursued, I was praying, meditating, counseling people, and
holding the victims in my heart. This lockdown is something I have never
experienced in this lifetime, even in the Indo-Pakistani War -- with
blackouts every night -- or when I lived in India under Indira Gandhi's
national state of emergency.
What can be learned from this moment? I believe this troubled time calls
on us to open our minds and hearts to the innumerable connections we
share with others -- in our families, communities, social systems, and on
our planet -- and strive to understand what it means to be human now,
and why it's imperative that we concern ourselves with the well-being of
all others.

3. The power of one is inconceivable; let's harness this strength and energy
by empowering ourselves and each other to assume the high road of
altruism, peacemaking, collaboration and lovingkindness in action. We are
all first responders for someone. Let's remember the power of one.
For more by Lama Surya Das, click here.
For more on wisdom, click here.
Visit his website at www.surya.org.
For more information on Surya's books- visit www.surya.org/books/
You can also follow Lama Surya Das on Twitter @LamaSuryaDas
Connect with Lama on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lamasuryadas.