After the recent shooting events in Orlando, Florida, including the death of one of my favorite singers/YouTube star – Christina Grimmie, I started to wonder how much worse or more immoral could humanity get. Shooting. Raping. Terrorist attacks. All for what? Hatred towards a particular sex, gender, race, country and/or religion? We live in a place where walking down the streets is too risky. We live in a place where even getting out of bed is dangerous. We live in a place where what we see as fun is now perilous and unsafe. Yet, we have to continue living, hardly aware of what will happen next.
On the morning of June 12, 2016, a gunman attacked a famous gay nightclub in Orlando, ruining not only a fun and festive night, but also the lives of over a hundred people. The victims – the 50 who died and about 53 who were injured, got out of bed just like us, ate breakfast, lunch and/or dinner just like us, and sought out a fun Saturday night, just like us. They walked into the club in hopes of finding solace, entertainment, and pleasure. Yet instead, tables were turned and their desires for enjoyment were ruined by terrifying and penetrating sounds of screaming and gunshots.
The world is a dangerous place because we allow it to be a dangerous place. Pretty redundant, I know. But it’s true. Albert Einstein said, “The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil, but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.” We cannot truly escape the dangers that lie before us, unless we do something about it. Safety, solidarity, and solace is all we want, yet these three S’s cannot be fulfilled as long as hatred, violence, and fear exist. A friend once told me something that I found very interesting. We all started out the same way – a blank slate as a baby. Nevertheless, one turned out to be Adolf Hitler and the other Abraham Lincoln. I wonder what influenced their decisions that led to two completely directions in life. Likewise, I never truly understood how people can be driven by violence and be determined to harm the rest of humanity. Indeed, gun violence and the utter lack of gun control must be entirely addressed. However, was it guns who killed over 3,000 people on September 11, 2001? Now, more than ever, we crave the words “safety,” “protection,” and “freedom.” With that being said, we fear no longer having control over the events that goes on in life. We probably fear it more than death itself. There is no escape unless we do something about it.
In light of the worst and largest mass shooting in American history, not to mention a hate crime against the LGBT community, I send my prayers and deepest condolences to the family and loved ones of those affected by the recent tragedies. My heart aches sincerely to everything that’s been going on in our world, from the mass shootings in school grounds to the Paris and Brussels attacks, and now this. We should not have to live in fear, yet again we live in a dangerous place. In the end, it is up to us. If we work together in harmony, hate will never win.
