Sunday, Americans woke to the news that around 2 a.m., 29-year-old Omar Saddiqui Mateen, armed with an assault-type rifle and a handgun, opened fire on the patrons and employees of a nightclub by the name of Pulse in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 individuals and wounding 53 more. The recent Orlando shooting is the deadliest shooting in United States history and is considered the worst terrorist attack since the events of 9/11, and it proved to be incendiary of smoldering political issues in the U.S.
In the hours following the tragic events in Orlando, politicians spoke out. Democrats blamed the lack of gun control laws, and Republicans blamed "radical Islamic terrorism." The tragedy proved to be an opportunity for prominent political figures such as Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders to voice complaints and accusations and to demand reform, and is expected to play an important role in the upcoming presidential election as it adds strength to the Democrats' push for gun control and to the Republicans' wariness of "radical Islamic terrorism."
The tragedy in Orlando has become the rope in an insensitive game of tug of war being played between the Democratic and Republican parties. The Democrats dig their heels into gun control laws, while Republicans dig their heels into the threat of radical Islamic terrorism. The center line hasn't budged far in either direction, though both parties fully expect to upset the other in the wake of the tragedy at Pulse this weekend. However, both parties are missing the point.
Considering the tragic events that transpired in Orlando this weekend, the issue is not that 49 gays were killed and 53 more gays were injured by guns purchased legally by a man that pledged allegiance to a known radical Islamic terrorist organization. The issue is simply that people were murdered by a person filled with hatred. Hatred is the problem.
Love, therefore, is the solution. However, it is not the "love" that is scrawled underneath peace signs and painted across rainbow flags. It is the Love of a God who "so loved the world that He gave His only son" (John 3:16) and whose greatest commandment is to "love one another as [He loves us]" (John 15:12). It is a respectful, unconditional, selfless and sacrificial Love that upholds the dignity of the human person in the face of evil such as crime, warfare, abortion and euthanasia. In his address from the White House, President Obama eloquently said, "In the face of hate and violence, we will love one another. We will not give in to fear or turn against each other, instead we will stand united as Americans to protect our people, to defend our nation, and take action against those who threaten us." He is correct by all means, but this nation needs to realize that we are a threat to ourselves. Admittedly, there are substantial threats that stand on our doorstep, threatening to break the door down, but there are equally substantial threats that paper our own walls. Furthermore, there is a common thread that ties the external threat to the internal threat, and that thread is a failure to recognize and defend the value of each and every human life regardless of race, religion, age, health or sexual orientation.
The United States cries out vehemently against crime and warfare and simultaneously normalizes abortion and romanticizes euthanasia. It is seemingly blinded to the hypocrisy of applauding a paraplegic's decision to end his life by the Swiss self-determination and autonomy group known as Dignitas (Jojo Moyes' "Me Before You") while lamenting another despairing man's decision to end his life by jumping, hanging, overdose or slit wrists. It is seemingly blinded to the hypocrisy of applauding a woman's decision to abort her child ("Scandal: Baby, It's Cold Outside") while mourning the children dying of hunger around the world.
Again, the issue is not that 49 gays were killed and 53 more gays were injured by guns purchased legally by a man that pledged allegiance to a radical Islamic terrorist group. The issue is that 49 people were killed and 53 more were injured by a person motivated by pure hatred. The issue at-hand does not have a solution as simple as more restrictive gun laws or more transparent phraseology. The solution to the issue at-hand is the ultimate conversion of a nation to understand the inherent, indelible worth of each and every human person.
We should grieve for the victims of the Orlando shooting not because they are proof of ineffectual gun control laws or proof of a threatening "radical Islamic terrorist" group, but because they were people with lives and loved ones. Their lives and, in turn, their deaths should not be reduced to ammunition in political skirmishes or fodder for the power-hungry. I did not know the victims, nor do I know the loved ones that they left behind, but I cannot imagine that they would not want their deaths to be reduced merely to a means to a political end. I imagine that they would want to be remembered as proof that good conquers evil, that love conquers hate and that their personhood mattered more to their compatriots than political agendas. The victims of the Orlando shooting deserved to be remembered in the love that we have for our families, our friends, our God and our country, in our prayers for peace and healing, and in our sympathy for the loved ones they left behind rather than in a ceaseless debates punctuated with mudslinging or presidential election fueled by accusations, pointed fingers and empty promises.
