It seems like every other week there is a story in the news about a shooting or terrorist attack happening somewhere in the world. This weekend the news came out of Orlando when a man armed with an assault rifle and pistol opened fire inside of a popular Gay nightclub. He killed 49 people, injured at least 53 others, and left a nation asking "Why?"
My heart breaks and stomach drops every time the news breaks of these acts of violence. I cannot imagine the pain that the victims families are in. Moments like these bring out a lot of mixed emotion- anger, hurt, confusion, frustration, helpless and sad. These emotions are sometimes felt alone and sometimes they are felt together.
When I first heard about the attack I felt confused, frustrated, and helpless. How can a human do something so awful to another human? How can someone purposely cause so much pain destruction and hurt? For a moment I felt like our society was going down the drain.
But then I heard about the hundreds of people who waited hours in the hot sun to donate blood. Some donation centers estimated that they had between 600 and 700 people waiting and wanting to donate. Other sites were forced to turn people away because of all the support. These donors were encouraged to come back on Monday and Tuesday because the need for blood will still be there. People from the community came out to give those waiting in line food, water, and shaved ice- for free.
A line of people waiting to donate blood outside of a OneBlood donation facility in Orlando, FL.
In this moment of darkness these people were the light. It wasn't the politicians who were too busy nit-picking the vocabulary used by other politicians who set the example, but instead the everyday people. People like you and me who got up and did something about what happened. Nothing can ever replace the 49 lives lost in this senseless act, but these people took a stand and stood up for their country and their community.
As heartbroken and sad as I am because of this and all other acts of violence that have occurred and will happen I refuse to let it change my view of humanity. There is a few bad apples in every bunch but then there are so many good ones.
Ghandi once said, "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops in the ocean are dirty the entire ocean does not become dirty."
