The story of the man in the cowboy hat helping the wounded at the Boston Marathon

Philippians 2:4 ESV / 1,062 helpful votes
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others

This is probably the most famous picture to come out of the Boston marathon aftermath. The man in the cowboy hat came to Boston in honor of his son who died in the Iraq war  had another purpose for coming when the bombs blew up

.Carlos Arredondo has an incredible story.  When the Marine's showed up at his home years before to share with him the death of his son he went into shock and ran into his garage where he proceeded to damage the car the Marine's had driven in before dousing himself with gasoline  and setting himself on fire. The night that our daughter died and the EMT's came to us to explain they did all they could but could not save her I was told that in many similar situations it is not uncommon for the EMT's to be attacked by those in shock. The traumatic effect of the news no parent wants to hear has such a profound impact that their minds go into a surreal fog of shock, kinetic energy, anger all mixed in one. When this happens not only must the emergency response team  deal with the reality that they were not able to save a child, but now must carry the burden  that others think they killed their child. This has all the makings of creating a post traumatic stress situation, but that is a different story or a different time.

 Miraculously the Marine's were able to drag his body to put out the fire.  Carlos was in despair over the loss of his son.  Grief will do that to you.  Grief will send you into shock and despair where you have a hard time maintaining control of your emotions.

 Two years later Carlos other son tragically took his life partly out of the grief of losing his older brother.  Tragically, Carlos had to deal with not one death, but two deaths.  Carlos came to Boston in honor of his son by passing out American flags to spectators.

When the bombs blew up he had another purpose . Just as  everyone was trying to get away from the mayhem Carlos jumped over the barrier and ran to  severely injured runners and give them emergency first aid..  He could not save his own son's but at least he could save the lives of some of these runners. Surviving grief changes you. It gives you a new normal where you are more sensitive and compassionate than those who have not experience this type of grief. Carlos had changed. The injured runner's had benefited from that change because of Carlos new normal.