Whenever we endure a tragedy of the sort in Boston yesterday, there is a constant temptation to politicize the event. After all, attention is focused on one moment for a scant amount of time. Advocates, lobbyists, policy analysts, and politicians all crave this kind of opportunity because they know that triggering events are rare. People will consider new ideas and approaches when they feel threatened or unstable or damaged.

Instead, we should simply step back and let events like these play out. The President is perfectly right to say a few words and to promise justice for the perpetrators. Beyond that, we ought to pray, allow people to grieve, and help how we can. Our collective response to those who seize the opportunity to make a partisan point should be to toss heaping piles of scorn upon their pates and to shame them from the public square for being the troglodytes they are.

There is a time for ideas and solutions and big-picture thinking. In the immediate aftermath of an event is NOT that time.