The Trip That We Had In Boston

I am sure that many of you have heard of Boston’s First Night, a free event at the end of every year that celebrates the New Year. For more than 40 years, First Night has been and still is a fantastic celebration of artistic productions and the starting of a new year. Each year, individuals of all ages and thousands of families gather together to experience a daylong series of festivities that showcase Boston’s diversity.

Since it is such a wonderful opportunity to explore Boston, my family and I decided to attend the event this year. After glancing over the official program guide, we determined that a visit to Old South Church for a musical performance would be a pleasant first stop.

Once we were inside the church, I couldn’t help but marvel at the breathtaking design of the church, namely the stained glass. I could just imagine the time and effort that was put into the building of the church. As I settled down into my spot, I became very impatience for the performance to start; Mitchell Crawford, a Minister of Music at Old South Church, was about to demonstrate the abilities of the Old South Church 7,000 Pipe Ernest M. Skinner Pipe Organ.

As the first few notes were played, I was immediately mesmerized by the perfect combination of the organ’s amazing sound quality and the church’s resonance. When some of the performance had elapsed, I started to wonder about how all of the peace in the church and around me came to be.

If you take a brief stroll through Copley Square, you probably won’t miss the eye-catching church completed in 1875. Through the bold actions of the Sons of Liberty at the Old South Meeting House (closely associated with the church), it played a significant role in early American history. There, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty ignited the Boston Tea Party during the course of one meeting. Furthermore, it served as an enlistment place for many young men hoping to help the Union cause. Every single vote that took place in the meeting house (also known as the Sanctuary of Freedom) during the revolution allowed our patriotic ancestors to fight for and win peace for their generation and subsequent generations.

After the performance was over, we walked in Boston Garden to enjoy the beautiful scenery. As we were leaving, we came by a group of protesters who were promoting the end of the war in Yemen. They were aiming to make the public aware that the U.S. has to end its support of Saudi Arabia and the coalition that it is leading, which is perpetrating many unlawful crimes against Yemen. It was hard for me to grasp the fact that thousands, possibly even millions, of children have perished and are still dying while we were celebrating Boston First Night. Around eight million people are on the verge of starvation and millions more require humanitarian aid. The idea of it is already horrid enough, not to mention the manifestation of it in the Middle East. Although our involvement in the Yemeni Civil War is billed as an addition to the general war on terror, our role in this conflict results in millions of people inevitably experiencing real terror close up. The bombardment of Yemen will only make everything worse, as the Yemeni political groupings will not be able to resolve their differences. If the U.S. doesn’t take action soon, it might be too late to turn back one of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises.

Even though a while had already passed since my encounter of the protest, the effects still lingered; as I looked around me, it was hard to believe that the complete opposite of what I was seeing was happening on the same planet.

As we approached the fireworks that just had started in Boston Common, I was reminded of the fourth of July, which celebrates a day of independence and peace. However, while the people of Boston and many others in the U.S. were celebrating the upcoming New Year of 2019, many other people in other areas were dreading another year of suffering and loss. It didn’t seem fair to me that we could be enjoying so much peace while people like the Yemenis had to wonder if they were even going to live past each day.