Now, most of the time when I sit here at the front desk, it's quiet. There isn't a lot of chatter and outside noise to disturb my thinking.
Today it's silent.
There's no drone of the air handling units...
The elevators aren't zooming through the building...
I've heard exactly one door open and close as I've sat here putting this post together.
I can hear the clacking of the keys as I type.
I can hear the whirr of the fan within the computer tower beside me.
And I can hear the faint "pop-pop-pop" of the flash bulbs in the emergency strobe lights in the hallway.
This afternoon, just moments before a two-and-a-half hour company-wide meeting began off-site, a water line burst in my office building.
It immediately affected the floor I sit on, and the floor immediately beneath it (where the switchboard is).
So the building was vacated, and all employees went to the meeting early.
This all happened as I was adventuring - finally, after 8 days of wanting - for cupcakes.
So I arrived back to the building in time to watch a wave of coworkers flood the sidewalks, two fire trucks scream down the street and stop in front of our office. I didn't know what to do.
I hate not knowing what to do.
So, after a short session of attempting to get in to retrieve our belongings, we were informed that we needed to wait outside. We meandered to the small sitting area, sat down with our cupcakes and chatted while we waited to be cleared for access.
It was as we waited that I started to think.
There were two fire trucks outside the office. The firemen stood in the lobby, conferring with maintenance staff about the situation.
This was classified as an "emergency."
But in the scheme of things... this was nothing.
On April 15, during the Boston Marathon, a real emergency broke out. Some individuals set out to make themselves know through the pain that they caused. They hurt more than just the runners - they hurt families, and they hurt our country.
That week was terribly, terribly dark.
But out of that darkness, a wonderful light started to shine - brighter and so much more positive than the strobes that are blinking around me now.
Three students at Emerson College - Nick, Chris and Lane - started a campaign that they called "Stay Strong - Boston Strong."
They thought, perhaps, they might sell a hundred tee shirts to raise a little money for the marathon runners who were hurt, and the families of runners who didn't survive the attack.
The result has been tremendous.
News stories have erupted everywhere. These students have been on USA Today, they've gone to Red Sox games, and they're rocking the nation with the difference they're making.
That difference is to the tune of almost 48,000 shirts, and over $700,000.
Nick designed the tee-shirts - a simple design, with yellow block letters on a royal blue tee, in the color scheme of the marathon - on a website called "Ink To The People." Ink To The People agreed to create the shirts, if over 110 would sell. Then they donated the first 1,500 shirts to the cause. More than 46,000 shirts later, they're taking only $5 out of the sale of each tee shirt for production costs. This campaign has put more shirts through their presses than they've created in the history of their company.
And the campaign continues today, striving to reach $1,000,000 for The One Fund. The One Fund, set up to assist the individuals impacted by the bombing, has raised over $27,000,000 so far, and continues to need our help.
You can get your very own tee here:
http://inktothepeople.com/marketplace/ink-detail/4916
So I ask you, my ReaderFriends...
Are you Boston Strong?
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