From terrorist attacks to club shootings, 2016 has not been a good year in terms of violence. It has come to the point where any time you go into public, there is an underlying fear that there could be a shooting. It is so sad that this is a part of humanity. That one single person could take the lives of 49 beautiful people just because they were different than the mold society tries to put around us. They were fun-loving, party-going individuals that did not deserve any piece of what happened in Orlando. No one deserves that. It is saddening that a night out turned into a terrifying attack on a group of people trying to celebrate their individuality and be themselves in a place they felt safe.
Following any sort of tragedy, it is easy to fall into playing the blame game. Blaming yourself or blaming others for an act of one man is both unhealthy and unfair. A disgusting act of one evil human does not fall on anyone except the person pulling the trigger. There is unfortunately no way to know when or where the next strike against humanity will occur. No one deserves to be the on the receiving end of a hate crime. Once is too often for this sort of violence to happen, yet the attack in Orlando was not the first. It was, however, the deadliest in American history.
America may never get closure over the events that happened in Orlando. We may never be able to decipher why in one weekend a talented singer, Christina Grimmie, and then 49 innocent club goers were taken away from our world. The men who committed these acts are gone, which is somehow comforting and frustrating. Comforting in that they cannot hurt anyone else, but frustrating in that the families of those lost will never know why.
My heart aches for the families of the Orlando victims. The terrifying truth is that it could have happened anywhere. It could have happened to someone I know. It could have happened to someone you know, and if it did, I am truly sorry. I am so terribly sorry that a sick, twisted soul did this to your loved one. It is not okay. It can never be rectified. But I hope somehow, someday, you find peace.
