On June 12th, 2016, just a little under a week ago, the US experienced the worst mass massacre in its history. A man by the name of Omar Mateen entered a Gay nightclub with an AR-15 and a handgun killing 49 innocent people and 53 were injured. This event really struck me and affected me personally. I am an openly gay woman and although it does not define me or my work ethic, it is part of me. I have traveled throughout the US and been to many gay clubs in my lifetime. I have been to some in NYC, Miami, Washington DC and LA. This event made me realize that it really could have been any one of us. For a few days, I had been reading the news and getting as much information as I could on those that had their lives taken so violently.
It was Latin night at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando - I loved attending Latin nights when I would go clubbing. Knowing that so many of my brothers and sisters of the LGBTQ community were killed this way is absolutely devastating. I can only imagine the scared look in their eyes to know that you are going to die and never see your loved ones again. I have had sleepless nights because although I did not know them personally, I have friends that did. The heartache that my community is facing during this time is overwhelming.
These young men and women were someones daughter, son, brother, sister, father, student and employee. I personally know a girl that made it out alive and was blessed to see another day. She is still in so much shock that it is hard for her to talk about it, so I can only imagine the difficulty of the things she must have experienced. They were not just part of the LGBTQ community, as that is not what defines us. They were human. Humanity has become nonexistent with our generation being so superficial. We are more concerned about how we look or what others will think that we don't experience life at it's finest. While looking through their Instagram's, I realized that they lived life to their fullest. One of the young men was from Brooklyn and on Vacation in Orlando, a young lady had lost over 100 pounds and was on her journey to here goal weight, another young man traveled the world and had just got back from NYC, one worked his dream job at Disney World and another worked for NBC's Telemundo La Voz Kids (a Spanish version of The Voice kids).
I think the best thing we can take from this disastrous situation is that we need to live life to its fullest and live like it's our last day. These beautiful souls will be missed and this should teach us to love each other no matter what. Learn to respect and accept others, not because you understand it, but because we are human.
