In the wake of our country's most recent terrible tragedy in Orlando, we found ourselves speechless, numb and heavily burdened with grief. How? How is it possible that 53 people lost their lives just trying to enjoy a wonderful night out? I didn't know any of the victims but, I do know that they all were someone's baby, someone's brother, sister, father, mother. . . They were all SOMEONE. |
I've seen thousands of posts that offer "more love, less hate" as the salve to soothe this rapidly spreading rash of violence but honestly, love needs a helping hand. I'm not saying that we all need to walk around armed to the gills but there has to be some other way for people to live their lives safely and without fear. Any number of us could fall victim to someone with a chip on their shoulder and a loaded gun. Do I believe that Omar Mateen was an Islamic terrorist? Absolutely not. Islam is a religion of peace, love and humility. This was a senseless crime that happened to be committed by a man who happened to be Muslim and, for the record, this country has also seen worse crimes at the hands of Christian men ( Black Wall Street, Rosewood, etc).
This entry wasn't written to inform, to uplift or to soothe but to peel off the scab, break the bone and reset this thing the right way. How can we keep telling ourselves that "love is all you need" when clearly love isn't enough to protect us? I can love my neighbor until I'm blue in the face but if she wants to kill me, nothing is going to stop her except . . . except what? What do we need to do to make this country right itself (and don't even mention voting for Trump)? What is the solution to this problem? Is it stronger gun control? Metal detectors on every building? Constant babysitting courtesy of "Big Brother"? Whatever it is we need to work on it quickly because some of us are trying to live.
Let's talk about this in the comments below. Toss the ball and let's come up with a way to make this place better for ourselves.