I am not going to re-state facts about the shooter in Orlando, Florida that took the lives of 49 people. You already know how old he was, his allegiance to a terrorist organization, and that his heart was filled with hate.
I come to you, to plea for peace, to plea for love, and to plea for tolerance.
Plea for Peace
After the shooting, right-wingers took to the media to say that we as a country should be better armed in these situations. Left-wingers started preaching the need for better gun-control. But wait, what about the victims? What about the families that will never be whole again? The dreams and hopes of so many people that will never come true? They deserve more than to become a political agenda. Now, more than ever, our country has to come together to solve a much bigger problem. Any person whether they are gay, straight, transgender, bi, whatever label-- deserves to feel safe.
Plea for Love
I was reading an article posted by a news network that talked about how two young men in the Pulse nightclub had plans of marrying each other-- their families were overjoyed. They described the couple as "totally in love." The news outlet had received photos from the deceased couples' families and shared them with the article. I looked at the photos and began to think of my own boyfriend. We too have plans to marry one day, we also are totally in love. The only difference is that we are a straight couple. They were targeted for loving someone that the shooter didn't deem morally acceptable. Let me say this, no one and I repeat no one, has the right to deem who can love who. Love is love, plain and simple.
Plea for tolerance
I am not even asking for understanding, I am asking that everyone is tolerant of those we share this planet with. We all come from different religious views (or lack of religion), societal backgrounds, income brackets, sexual orientations, etc. I ask that you look for things that we all have in common. We could have a world that we all are all happy in, if we don't choose to target certain groups just because we believe differently. We all are going through this crazy human experience together, let's make sense of it all in unity.
