Recent events around the world have shown the worst that humanity has to offer. It is disheartening and devastating to see how eager we are to harm each other over personal differences. In Orlando, Florida, 49 men and women were mowed down by a man wielding a military grade assault rifle who was fueled by ignorant hatred for the LGBTQA community. In Istanbul, Turkey, three suicide bombers attacked the airport and killed 36 people. I was out to eat with my family when I saw this headline and an image of a police officer covered in blood from the attack. I was mortified. On July 3, in Baghdad, Iraq, over 140 people were slaughtered in the deadliest terrorist attack in their history. The news keeps pouring in. Every day it seems like a new tragedy has struck us. So what do we do about it?
One thing we should never EVER do is celebrate the tragedy. No one deserves to suffer like this and no one should ever wish this kind of pain on their worst enemy. No matter what you believe about these people that have been senselessly taken, you must remember that they are someone’s child, someone’s brother, sister, mother, father, cousin, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, etc. They are someone. Do not demean their existence by celebrating an act of hatred against them. To do that is to turn your back on humanity itself.
Many people take this time to post about how they are going to pray for these people. I myself am a religious person and do believe in prayer but here are my problems with sharing that all over social media. Prayer is a very intimate act between a person and their deity. Whether that deity be God, Allah, Yahweh, Vishnu, etc. it is still a personal communication between you and them. I think it is a very beautiful thing to dedicate some of that personal time with your god or gods to people who are suffering around the world. Why do you feel the need to share it on social media though? To post constantly about how you are praying for these suffering people actually isn’t noble at all. It is just drawing attention to yourself and showing of how devout you are. If you want to post on social media about how awful an event is don’t talk about how much you are praying, be the answer to someone’s prayer. Be active with how you want to help the situation on social media push for change. Your prayer is your business not Facebook’s, but raising money, awareness, donating items to people who are affected are things that Facebook can help spread and grow to actively help these people. By all means keep praying, just quit talking about how great it is that you're praying.
Unfortunately, international information is difficult to get correct. As we know, the media in the United States is all about spinning a story and creating a universal bias for viewers. This is troublesome especially when things are happening overseas because we only get a glimpse of the picture. It’s actually quite possible for the American media to completely leave out worldly events so that we can talk about a crazy thing Donald Trump said, or what kind of lipstick Kylie Jenner uses. Take this into consideration when you want to discuss one of these tragedies with someone else. Know the different sides of the story that will be told and form your own opinion. Trust me, you don’t get the full story from Fox News.
In times of tragedy it is important that we realize everyone will be affected differently. As different people of different races, religions, genders, sexualities, and nationalities, we will be affected by world events differently and have different reactions. Some of us may be numb. Some of us may be angry. Some of us may need time to process before we can discuss it with other people. Recognize this, and respect that people need to handle grief in their own way. Do not pressure people to feel exactly as you do, but be supportive and present for them nonetheless. It’s a cruel world. We need to cling on to whatever good we have in our lives and actively be the good that someone else may need in their life.
