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The flowers keep coming

Flowers on Boylston Street

Brian D'Amico paused outside the Engine 33/Ladder 15 fire house on Boylston Street today.

Copyright Brian D'Amico. Posted in the Universal Hub pool on Flickr.

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Comments

I have mixed feelings about seeing this many flowers. A visible display of an outpouring of support for the heroes that lost their lives. A boost in orders for local florists. There's got to be a more effective/constructive way to spend $5-$20 in the aftermath of a tragedy like this. A fund to improve something at engine 33, a fund to offer a weekly "thanks" to the firefighters of Boston even with something simple like an awesome brunch at the station weekly.

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But try not to overthink it. Flowers are the historic symbol of mourning. it's a gesture known and appreciated. It would be great to channel the immediate sympathy into something more permanent though, and I have no doubt that will come.

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This is just another example of what I spoke on earlier when it comes to these memorializations. Who are those flowers for? Are they for the firefighters who can't even pull out correctly without running over them? Or are they really for the person giving them so they can feel like they have a physical representation of their grief and "shared anguish as a community"? The same goes for the umpteenth pair of soggy old running shoes last year after the marathon.

If people want to do something, there have been numerous announcements about where to send money to help the station, the families of those who died, the firefighters injured as week, and general funds too. But to continue to bring flowers days after the fact borders on the absurd. Most of these people aren't "grieving" the loss...they're flash mobbing under the auspices of "pulling together as a community"...even when they are coming in from beyond 128 to lay their bouquet.

We've lost our minds and our perspectives as a collective whole. Yes, two firemen died. You could even say it was tragic. Let's focus on learning how to prevent it from happening again where possible and showing a little New England stout hardiness and moving on with our lives to live as they would have wanted us to. We don't need a national week of mourning every time we lose a hero...or even 10.

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I agree with another anon (not verified) on Sun, 03/30/2014 - 8:56pm

try not to overthink it.

It's touching to see an outpouring of appreciation for the firefighters.

Sadly, people choose to see negativity even in the simplest of kind gestures such as paying respectful tribute to fallen firefighters.

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...simplest of kind gestures...

Quite on the nose, actually. This is the simplest of gestures these people could do, so it's what they do. It lets them gesture for their own peace of mind and it leaves a note of their gesture so they can say "I did something".

If you want a more difficult gesture of appreciation, then appreciate the living ones more. Make sure they are getting a fair deal from the city on their contracts. Volunteer to help out your local company if you live in a town that has a volunteer department. Do something other than lay down a wreath on the sidewalk to drown in the rain.

Any negativity is directed at the people who take the simplest path because it costs them nothing but satisfies their own needs more than those that they are supposedly reflecting upon. Anyone honestly appraising the situation wouldn't take another bouquet of flowers to the firehouse.

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They were turning onto Gallivan Blvd. in front of me. I saw the # 33 and honked and gave them a solidarity fist out the window. They acknowledged it but I think they were surprised to be ID'ed in dot. Glad I saw them and shouted out.
Ladder 15 and Engine 33 should not go unnoticed any time soon.

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If all that flower money went to scholarships or charity instead.

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That you start this trend yourself.

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It wasn't too long ago when certain elitists community leaders in the Back Bay objected to the memorial to the fallen firefighters of the Vendome tragedy and adopted a not in my backyard opposition. The flowers and cards have been placed by kids, college students, and mothers who want to pay their respects to the brave and women of the Boston fire department and I hope and pray more flowers are placed in front of the firehouse.

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As I recall the objection was to the location of the memorial - they didn't want it right in front of the building as a reminder that all those people died a tragic death in their building - possibly in their apartment. Perhaps not fully rational, but let's face it, none of us are fully rational and I can understand the emotion. I don't think it was Back Bay "community leaders" either - from the articles I read it was specifically people that lived in that building. A solution was found simply by moving the memorial across the street and in 20+ years I've never heard anyone gripe about that memorial.

Actually - I look out my front window at that memorial every day and I think it's beautiful. I rarely see people stop at other memorials on Comm Ave. I regularly see people stop and take the time to read all the inscriptions on the Vendome Memorial, often reading them out loud to their children and I go out there and reread the inscriptions myself every now and then.

it's always poignant to see the fire truck pull up and the firemen sweep and tend to the memorial.

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