I’m from Boston.  I travel the world for work, of course, and I’ve lived in other states and another country, but Boston is home.

Here in Boston, Patriots’ Day is our rite of spring.  The Marathon is the big deal, but we also mark the events of 1775, and the end of another New England winter.  We’re doing the spring cleaning, putting away the snow blowers, getting out the grille.

It’s a special day here in Boston.  A good day, filled with the excitement of the big race, and baseball and hockey and basketball, because Boston is a sports-mad as well as a history-filled town, but also a peaceful day signaling the transition from one season to another.

At least it should be.

Yesterday, someone or some group destroyed that peace and that good buzz with a vicious act of terror.  And now, for Boston, just like New York City and London and Madrid, and many other cities around the world, hatred has been brought close to home.

For us here in Boston, from now on, every day is Patriots’ Day.  We’ve got to be on alert in a way that we haven’t been before.

And that’s got me thinking.  Why not make Patriots’ Day a national day of remembrance, solidarity, and resilience?  A day when we honor those first responders who swung into action so heroically as they have on so many other occasions.  A day when we remember the fallen.  A day when we stand tall and resilient and vow that no act of terrorism will ever let us forget that this experiment in democracy, begun in 1775, is tough and proud and determined to keep strong.

What do you say, America?