6/13/16
Whether America is ready or not, here they come—mass shootings, brutal murders, fatality at its “finest.” Maybe I’ve never been mature enough to pay attention, but what I do know is Orlando’s mass shooting has been the most fatal in America to date. 49 murdered, 53 severely wounded.
A thousand thoughts run through my mind as I write this. “What was the purpose?” “How could a human being, just like you and I, have the audacity and the malevolence to kill almost 102 people and hold others hostage for three agonizing hours?” “Since when does pledging allegiance mean anything other than ‘I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America’?” Those are a mere percentage.
I’m thinking of the cruelty of a man, Omar Mateen, and the downright disgust I feel when thinking about how distorted someone must be to pledge their allegiance to the Islamic State in the name of Allah. It’s twisted and nauseating.
Despite that, I’m also thinking of a son or daughter, or sister or brother’s long-held secret being disclosed to their family and friends with a feeling of anguish and words of sorrow. I’m afraid for the people of the LGBTQ+ community—especially those who have not yet outted themselves. Everyone deserves to have a safe-haven; and those who were killed, injured, or traumatized by the incident no longer have that. The safety of others is important, and it absolutely repulses me to know that someone could have so much hate in their heart that they would open gun fire on an entire gay club so near to Pride Day. I’m even more-so afraid of what may happen if the United States’ gun control laws don’t change very quickly.
WOW!!
Well stated Rach!