A boy, maybe 9, sat by a window overlooking the tarmac in the departure lounge at the Gerard R Ford Airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He looked forlorn. A young man, maybe his father, sidled up next to him and gave him a big hug. They wore khaki clothes, the boy's camouflage cap matching the man's t-shirt.
In the background, CNN aired more Boston Bombing specials. The despicable acts. The senseless violence. The inhumanity.
The man says to the boy: "Maybe, one day, we can go to Africa... and shoot Elephants!"
The boy looks up and beams, as though hearing there'd be marshmallows at the campfire.
A relative seated nearby pipes up: "Hey, you can't shoot elephants."
The man scoffs back: "Sure you can; you can shoot anything in the African jungle."
He then turns back to the kid, still excited, and says: "Or maybe shoot hippopotamuses, or do you say hippopotami? Whatever, they're nasty animals!"
Ah, America.