It’s kinda hard to get silly and sarcastic when the week starts with a bombing in Boston that kills three people and maims many. Sure, humor can temper horror, but we word monkeys walk a very thin tightrope in times like this. The Betster really, really loves Boston and its people, including like a gazillion relatives and friends living in the greater Boston area. It’s a good thing the Betster learned to touch type in 11th grade, because the keyboard gets blurry when seen through tears.

One fine summer day a few years ago, the Betster and the spousal companion took the T— that’s the subway — to the Institute of Contemporary Art on the Boston Harbor. After viewing a way cool exhibit that included a sculpture of an Ikea chair impaled by a sonotube, we strolled along the harbor and wound up discovering a city the best way possible: We got lost.

You can learn a lot about a city if you don’t really know where you’re going. You wind up seeing not what the tour guides want you to see, but what residents see every day. Lots of people settle in cities that way. They get lost, put down roots, and the next thing you know they’re living in a walk-up apartment on the north slope of Beacon Hill and covering cops for the Boston Globe. It could happen.

So, this week the Betster can’t crack wise. I had an intro about the unique smell permeating from muddy lawns, but how can you joke about bad odors when the world itself stinks? The only good that comes out of this is what we always find in tragedies. People confront horror directly, with heroism and compassion.

Somehow we reach deep into our hearts and find love. We cry. We heal. We do not let evil scare us, because in the long arc of history, evil never wins. It becomes hard to climb out of that deep hole of despair, but as long as we still see the light, we climb.

We’re climbing toward the light now in this chilly spring. We honor the dead by living. In a world where terrorists want you to cower, bravely going forth is an everyday revenge. Be a hero and enjoy life with these Best Bets:

BEST RUN ON BET: What better way to honor the victims of the bombing than to do what some of them were doing — running. Run, walk and move for 26.2 minutes — one for every mile of the marathon — in the “Run for Beantown” at 5 p.m. Saturday at Homer High School. Wear an old race event shirt to show solidarity. 

BEST LIFE IS A GAS BET: Confused about connecting to natural gas? Ask Enstar Natural Gas representatives at a service line fair from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. Friday at the Kachemak Community Center. Drop off your natural gas service application and enter a chance to win a gas grill.

BEST GET WET BET: The swans are back, which means there’s open water to explore in the Family Wetland Exploration at 10:30 a.m. Friday. If Beluga Lake is frozen, meet at the Alaska Islands and Ocean Visitor Center. If it’s thawed, meet at the McDonald’s parking lot. It’s a Week of the Young Child event. For more events, visit www.pop411.org and search for “WOYC.”

BEST BIRD ON BET: New birds show up daily, so see what’s about and learn from the experts for the Kachemak Bay Birders trip starting at 9 a.m. Saturday at Seaside Farm on East End Road. Who knows? It’s Earth Day on Saturday, and the sandhill cranes might be back.

BEST BOOK IT BET: Stock up on your summer beach reading at the Friends of the Homer Public Library Book and Plant Sale. Members get first dibs from 6 to 8 p.m. Friday and everyone else at 10 a.m. Saturday at the library.

BEST GET LIT BET: It’s National Poetry Month and National Library Month, so what better way to celebrate both than with a talk by poet Linda Martin, “Skirting Nostalgia: Making Poems About Places and People We Love” from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Homer Public Library. Bring paper and implements of writing to do some exercises.