Monday April 22, 2013

April 22 PSL Has Special Banner for Boston

By Sean Oberle, PSL publisher

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Editorial – This week I turn the banner of the paper edition of Product Safety Letter to blue and yellow, the colors of the Boston Marathon. I do this to honor the victims, their families, the City of Boston, its first responders, doctors, nurses, and just plain folk who did what was needed.

Why for this but not equally deserving tragedies like Newtown, Hurricane Sandy, and now West, Texas? This act of terrorism is especially moving for me. I’m a marathoner. I ran the race. My wife and others I care about were spectators. We’re fine. I finished nearly an hour and a half before the explosions, so none of us were near Boylston St. We merely were frightened by the immediate situation and later by thoughts of what might have been – and all that fades to irrelevance in comparison to the suffering and loss of others.

Nonetheless, the attack struck a nerve, not only due to proximity, but because it hit a sport that my wife and I love (she’s a runner too) and thus a community, the racing community, that we care about. Added to that is the fact that the people of Boston help make this race like no other. Therefore, this week, PSL has a special banner.

Thank you for understanding this personal indulgence that has nothing to do with product safety.

(Note: The subsequent events in Watertown and nearby were unfolding as PSL went to press.)