Brace yourself. The nation is about to relive the terror and senselessness of the Boston Marathon bombings. The trial of the surviving suspect started Monday.

Boston is about 800 miles from Salisbury, but shockwaves from the bombs that exploded during the 2013 marathon reached Rowan County and beyond. Several local runners were in Boston to compete in the famous race. Were they OK? And what possible reason could someone have for killing runners and spectators? Why?

Some answers came swiftly. None of the Rowan runners were in the area near the finish line where the bombs went off. But three spectators died and 264 people suffered often crippling injuries as a result of the explosions, said to be the work of two Chechen brothers who had come to hate the United States after emigrating as refugees in 2002.

A definitive answer to the “Why?” question is elusive. Authorities say the brothers set off the bombs in retaliation for U.S. wars in Muslim countries and regarded the victims as collateral damage, like the civilians killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The nation waits to see if young Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, only 19 at the time of the bombing, will confirm that storyline or surprise us with something else. His defense team will try to depict Dzhokhar as an impressionable sidekick to the older Tamerlan Tsarnaev, who died in a shootout with police. A jury will try to determine if Dzhokhar, now 21, is a cold-blooded terrorist or an easily dominated youngster.

While the trial refreshes the nation’s collective memory of April 15, 2013, people who lost limbs after the bombs ripped through the crowd — or worse, lost family members — live with the consequences every day.  Whatever the outcome of the trial, they will continue to deal with the bombings for the rest of their lives. Let justice be swift and fair.