I was sitting at my computer and overheard someone say, “Did you know that his father had just crossed the finish line?”

I think this is a sick tendency of our society. A lot of people died or had their lives forever altered in Boston. That is a tragedy. There is no need to wring “greater tragedy” from it, as if the more we outdo ourselves in expressing sympathy or grief, the better somehow the world is. I know our media make their money reporting the news, and in cases like these, that news can consist of gory or heart-wrenching details.

But let’s be clear. Our outpouring of support – which should happen – is for the living. The dead are dead and no matter what we do to avenge or mourn them, it will not bring them back. That is the very reason it is a tragedy. Outdoing each other with sad stories is theatre, and farce. It is not sympathy.

My thoughts and prayers are with those who lost loved ones.