Are there ever silver linings in senseless death? In random, unsolicited homicide? It’s difficult, I might even say impossible, to fathom that there could be anything positive that comes from such tragedy. This week, my city got a small taste of what many experience in daily life. A man-a very angry and sad man- took a gun and shot 3 men in a matter of minutes.

The Thursday before this Tuesday “rampage” this same man had shot and killed a motel security guard, and attempted to shoot another. He was being sought by police the morning of the three shootings. The victims were fairly random, but all were white males that the suspect encountered on his brief walk before police contact.

The shooter was a man by the name of Kori Muhammad. He was black, he was a convert to the Islam religion, and he had a criminal record. According to the police press conference, he also yelled out “Allahu Akbar” upon his arrest.

So what happens now? Aside from the obvious mourning of the lives that were lost, it seems that we take the details of this tragedy (which I easily found circulating in many media outlets) and we cling to them in fear. My heart hurts for the families and friends who have lost a loved one to the anger of another.

My heart also hurts for the man who lived a life so consumed by anger and fear that taking others’ lives was the only way to make someone feel how he felt. I don’t want to cling to the details of this tragedy. This man was not a calculating terrorist. This man was one who lived a life that many of us cannot come close to imagining; one that took him down a path of hatred, instead of forgiveness and love.

When we stack up the list of things that Kori Muhammad was, we use that list to push us further away from those we see as similar to Kori, to those who are Muslim or black. We perpetuate the prejudice and hatred that may have been at the very root of this man’s tragic feelings.

This morning in the courtroom, Kori Muhammad shouted:

“Let black people go!” (abc30).

Resulting in defenders requesting a mental evaluation before proceeding further. I am sad for this man. He has lost his voice; he has silenced what might be a legitimate message about the state of black people in this country.

I am sad that somewhere along the course of his life, he found the struggles he faced to be too much and gave up. Happy people don’t take other people’s lives. People with a future don’t pull out a gun and shoot a security guard over an eviction dispute.

My husband works blocks from where these Tuesday morning shootings took place. He is a white male. Should he now live in fear of going to work every day? Should I no longer visit him or go to lunch down there? Maybe I should avoid downtown all together? Stick to the “safe” areas of town.

This may seem like a logical option, but I choose a different one. Because that option, the one that further divides one group of people from another, will keep us in this state of a painfully divided world. I will not allow fear to dictate my life. We all die at some point, and though I sincerely hope that day is in the very distant future, I know that I have no control over the matter.

So while I am here on this Earth, I choose to live with love and trust, and faith in human goodness. I choose to forgive people for the wrong they do because we are all capable of doing terrible things if placed in the right situation. And I choose to see people as individuals and human.

Instead of defining groups as bad or good, I seek to understand perspective. The shooting of people over race is not the problem, it is a symptom of a problem. If we can all seek to understand, then we can all begin to heal. There is your silver lining, the only positive thing that can come of tragedy: people uniting in love.