An Open Letter To Orlando's Shooting Suspect

My first question for you is: why? What made you decide to take the lives of fifty people, with the intent of taking even more? Where did your sense of entitlement come from? What made your opinions outweigh the value of your victims' lives?

Although you were also killed in the midst of yesterday's events and will never read this, I am writing on behalf of many when I say that no life is worthless and no one has the right to take that life away from another person. No one.

So that is why I am confused. The people at that night club in Orlando did nothing to you. They didn't even know you. Likewise, you did not know them. Oh, but it was a gay night club and you didn't like that, so you decided to take it upon yourself to punish strangers. They weren't hurting anyone. They went to dance and drink. They wanted to kiss strangers and have a good time. They were experiencing the night life that Orlando has to offer and having fun.

Until you decided to stop minding your own business. Until you decided to take matters into your own hands. Until you showed up. Until you made a crowd of fun-loving people your hostages. Until you shot them. Until you injured them. Until you murdered them.

You may have disagreed with their way of life, and that's fine. But they were not the problem, you were. People like you are what's wrong with the world. People like you who can't keep their opinions and beliefs where they belong. People who express those opinions and beliefs through violence. What happened to you? Why was your heart so evil? Why were you so full of hate? Why did you take your problems out on people you didn't know?

Whether it's homosexuals, religious people, or even people of a certain race you don't like, distance yourself from them. Talk to a therapist. Write about it. But for the love of all that is good, don't shoot anyone! All you have accomplished is the devastation of the families of each of your victims. You took away the surviving victims' sense of peace and security. I wasn't even there, but people like you make me afraid. People like you make me want to stay home. People like you make me want to remain silent on my beliefs. People like you make me sick.

If you didn't like what these people were doing, what you saw on NBC a few months ago, the activities that they were participating in... you could have peacefully protested, made a Facebook status, or simply separated yourself from any situation that made you uncomfortable. Living in the United States gives us enough power and opportunity to change or at least speak up against what we don't like. Clearly, that wasn't enough for you. You took it to the next level. You punished innocent people. Out of hatred and with evil intent. All for what? Because your dead now too.

As badly as I would like to say "good riddance" and that the world does not need people like you, I won't. Because who am I to say that your life was invaluable? Who am I to decide if your life was worth living? I'm not.