Orlando Shootings

I wanted to write something about the shootings in Orlando, but I don't want to politicize it. People know my views, and I will continue to argue them vehemently. But now is not the time.

I've decided to share the diary entry I wrote yesterday about the incident, because it best captures my thoughts. Right now, we should be thinking about the victims and those who grieve for them. Forget the politics, forget why this happened. Forget what might come from this. For now, just think of the families. Because we'll all forget about them soon.

From my diary:

"There was a shooting in Florida last night. A man walked into a gay night club and gunned down fifty people.

Fifty people. Dead. For nothing. Hundreds of grieving family members, hundreds of survivors. People whose lives will no longer be the same.

I did not know these people, yet I cried. I continue to cry. Why? They were strangers to me. Their deaths have little effect on my life.

Why then do I feel this weight on my chest?

It isn’t because of the inevitable way the media will jump on it like sharks to blood. It isn’t because news agencies will milk the story until the next big tragedy, squeezing out every ounce of coverage before people lose interest.

It isn’t because of the politics, the futile calls for gun control, the fearmongering. The cynicism of the pundits, and the naïve hope that this single instance will change anything.

It isn’t even because of how heartless and empty we can all be, with our Facebook statuses and our prayers, retweeting and sharing only to forget as the world forgets and we all go back to our comfortable little lives.

I weep because still there are cell phones ringing in pools of blood.

Unanswered.

June 12th, 2016"