At 2 a.m., Sunday, June 12, a man walked into The Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla. The man (who will not be named in this or the following article), was armed with deadly weapons and the intent to commit an act of terror. The resulting tragedy ended with 50 Americans dead, and another 53 injured; the shooting now stands as the largest mass shooting in American history, and the largest attack of domestic terrorism on American soil since 9/11.
At 8 a.m. the following morning, I began my usual morning Facebook check over my first cup of coffee, not two minutes later, I set my phone on the table in disgust. Without so much as 12 hours passing, social media had erupted into a hailstorm of opinion slinging and slacktivism. Using this horrific tragedy as a springboard, people were exclaiming homophobia, demanding tighter gun laws, blaming and defending Islam, and creating a digital riot to further opinion and agenda. It is not yet the time for such behavior, this only serves to divide us as a nation and a people when truly the opposite must be done.
This week, you will not hear any of my opinions on Islam, firearms, or the LGBT community; as it is not the time for such action. It is the time to mourn and grieve for our lost brothers and sisters, we are all one nation under the stars and stripes and it is high time we begin to act like it. Now is the time to fly our flag at half mast and remember those who we lost to this act of hatred and cowardice; it is the time to recognize that the freedoms that give us the right to behave in an imbecilic manor on the internet has been struck by the face of terror.
This attack was more than an attack against a religion, a race, or the LGBT community, this was an attack to America, and now we as Americans stand as one people and unite during this time. Not as the black community, or the LGBT community, or the white community, but as the American community. It is time to remember that we as Americans are better than reducing ourselves to division over petty difference of opinion, and we are better than the evil that attacked us in Orlando.
The time to formulate opinions and debate what has happened will come, but it is not now, as now is the time to grieve for those we have lost and remember that despite our defining differences, we are all American and this action threatens us all as Americans. It is a time to unite in solidarity for those who have lost loved ones to an act of terrorism, and it is time to come together as an American people knowing we will rise above this act. The time for opinions will come, but it must follow the time for America.
