I realize that some people are probably already tired of hearing about the bombing at the Boston Marathon, and I've already seen Facebook postings asking how three people dying in Boston is any worse that hundreds and thousands dying in Iraq and Afghanistan, but given current events I hope you will understand my need to talk about it here.

The big difference to me, especially as a Marine Corps Veteran, is expectation.  Whether you feel that the war in Iraq and Afghanistan is just or not, the men and women in uniform understood when they enlisted that there was a chance that they would never see home again.  When they got their orders to go into a war zone they are taught to expect to not go home again.  Even the civilians in the war zones, have some expectation and realization that they may not survive the night. 

In Boston, people were playing a game.  They were running, they were having fun.  They had no reasonable expectation that they would not go home or back to their hotels that evening.  They had no reasonable expectation that they would lose loved ones. 

I was going to speak about the role of photographers and photojournalists in such matters as this, but my boyo just woke up, and we're going to spend the day together.