Of all the pontificators and pundits reacting online and off, it was comedian Patton Oswalt who perhaps provided the most poignant take on the Boston Marathon bombing Monday afternoon.
In a post to his Facebook page, Oswalt wrote that while violence such as Monday's tragedy exemplifies the worst of humanity, it's easy to lose track of the bigger picture.
The post reads in part:
This is a giant planet and we're lucky to live on it but there are prices and penalties incurred for the daily miracle of existence. One of them is, every once in awhile, the wiring of a tiny sliver of the species gets snarled and they're pointed towards darkness.
But the vast majority stands against that darkness and, like white blood cells attacking a virus, they dilute and weaken and eventually wash away the evil doers and, more importantly, the damage they wreak. This is beyond religion or creed or nation. We would not be here if humanity were inherently evil. We'd have eaten ourselves alive long ago.
Oswalt's words clearly struck a chord with Facebook users. Three hours after it went online, the post has been shared more than 81,000 times and has received more than 97,000 likes. You can read it in its entirety here.