"But when you're gone, who remembers your name? Who keeps your flame?" -- "Hamilton, An American Musical"
"Hamilton," the new rap musical about Alexander Hamilton that won 11 Tonys this year, inquires about who lives, who dies and who tells your story. Who are we, people that have the privilege to still be alive, to choose whose story gets told? Who are we to decide that one person's life isn't as interesting as others? News stations sit and pick out of thousands of stories to report on, and it's inhumane to say, "No, no one knew him." Every person has a family and was loved. Who are we to say that they don't get to be remembered?
I've never worked at a news station so these accusations are simply accusations. I understand that we, as an audience, cannot hear about every tragic event that occurs. But as the song from Hamilton says, "We have no control."
A co-worker told me the other day that a 2-year-old boy had been dragged away from his parents and eaten by an alligator in Disney World this past week. Saddened by this news I thought about all the bad things that have occurred the past few weeks. My co-worker then made a statement that helped me realize something incredibly important.
"Think about it; Christina Grimmie, the Orlando shooting, and now this little boy. It all happened in Orlando. All the bad things are happening in Orlando."
This is true, Orlando did seem to be the center of many horrible circumstances. However there are thousands of terrible things that happen everywhere, every day.
Of course everyone knows this, but I know from personal experience that we tend to shut out things that make us uncomfortable or upset. Over 100,000 people die per day and one-third of that percentage is related to violence. Upon hearing this I would try to forget it immediately. It only made me upset to dwell on the subject, solely because I had no power to stop it.
People are afraid to travel anywhere now because of the fear that something bad might happen to them or someone they love. Yes, the world is a dangerous place with dangerous people but chances are that this morning when you stopped for gas or got to work, there was a burglar or rapist there as well.
I have a strong belief that there is both light and dark in everyone, and the bad people choose to act on the dark part of them. There are 7.15 million people in the world and every single one of them have the potential to be good or bad.
Yes, a lot of bad things happened in Orlando. But just last week three teens were shot and killed in Chicago. I'm not saying that the Orlando shooting wasn't tragic, because it definitely was. Bad things and bad people are everywhere.
Who are we to choose whose story gets told? My story might be told in order to change the perspectives of others. Your story might inspire me to change my life. It's so easy to forget that the world is in turmoil and that others stories are coming to an end because it never touches us.
Death is a scary thing, especially when it is so close to you. But as I've said before, danger is everywhere. Again, the musical states: "Death doesn't discriminate between the sinners and the saints, it takes and it takes and it takes." We have no control of what happens to us or others, but while we are still here we can remember those who lost their lives to tragedy. Everyone wants to be remembered. Imagine if you weren't.
