Yesterday, I attended a 5K race called "Race Against Racism" in the city, where approximately 4500 people came out and ran in support of anti-racism and multicultural tolerance. My mom, who works at one of the companies sponsoring the event, ran in it. I chose not to run, mainly because I'm fat and it would be horrifying. I did watch, though. First of all, if you have never seen the takeoff of any sort of race, it's probably one of the coolest things you've ever seen. The people in the very front booked it out of the starting point, and the runners just kept coming and coming, followed by the walkers. I really wish I had videotaped it, because the flow of energy that came from the street to the park I was standing in was astonishing. My favorite part, though, would have to be the man running with the American flag hoisted above his head the whole entire race. This man had gray hair and wrinkled skin, I'm guessing around his early 60's. So I snapped a picture of it, edited the crap out of it, and it came out like this:
Whoopee.
The first runner came in to finish 13 minutes after the race started, which is when I totally gave up my hopes at ever running a successful 5K and hit up the french fry stand. Just kidding, but holy crappoli, that was insane. IN-SANE. Few runners came in after that, mostly one at a time, probably 30 seconds between each. At this point, I walked down and stood on a wall overlooking the road. This is when the track runners, athletic college kids, and little, elementary-age kids with buckets of energy came in contained in herds of 6 or 7. Everyone on the sidelines was cheering and clapping, which was awesome, seeing how our cheers got them to finish it out strong. Also, I had forgot to mention something that touched everyone around me. There were numerous people running the race, though I hadn't noticed this at first, but they were sporting Boston shirts. A lot of them were Red Sox or Patriots shirts (of who I can't stand either team), but you could see that they were running in honor of them. They all had blue and yellow ribbons, too.
The biggest thing in this post though is that everyone in this race, running, walking, or spectating, was brought together by social acceptance. No one was rejected or sneered at due to their ethnicity, race, or home. The beauty of unification is probably one of the most amazing things we as a country have provided throughout the years, from the American Civil War, to the Civil Rights Movement. Out of everything that has gone wrong in our country, the little things give you hope that everything has the potential to go right.
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