The photo above is of a group gathered in Barney Allis Plaza of downtown Kansas City. They and many others all over the country gathered together in the wake of the Orlando shooting to stand in solidarity with its victims. Special thanks to Kevin VanEmburgh for allowing its use.
Just days after two heartbreaking shootings in a row happened in Orlando, and already the political posturing about everything from gun control to immigration and terrorism has soared to new heights of ridiculousness.
The first of these senseless crimes, the shooting of up-and-coming artist Christina Grimmie was bad enough, but to have that followed by what's now being called "the deadliest mass shooting in the United States and the nation's worst terror attack since 9/11" less than 48 hours later—it's no wonder a firestorm of judgment, accusation and outrage has ensued.
It's a tragic response to an event that was already tragic enough on its own.
When September 11, 2001 hit, there were no pundits, candidates or opinionated social media users raising their voices in misguided attempts at immediately finding a solution to what had just happened.
Instead, the nation as a whole had time to sit in its shock and grief without any political clamor or posturing to distract from the horror of what had happened.
In fact, despite the horrific atrocity of it all, 9/11 probably brought us closer together as a nation than we had been in a long time.
If only that could still be true of us today.
In the Bible, the book of Job (chapter 2, verses 11-13) teaches an important lesson on what to do when others are grieving—show up and shut up.
In the story recorded there, three friends of a man named Job who had just suffered an unimaginable loss came to sympathize with and comfort him. In fact, it says that "they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights," and that "No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was."
These three friends of Job's got it right, at least in the beginning. However, as the story goes on and they begin to speak, sharing their opinions about what had happened to him and why, it becomes clear that they are no longer helping him but hurting him.
In our current case, we're dealing with a shooting so bad that people were literally dropped off in truckloads at the nearest hospital. At least 49 people lost their lives that night, and you can read about them here. Mothers lost their sons, and more than 50 others were injured as well several dozen of whom are still in the hospital at the time of this writing.
The survivors are just beginning to speak themselves, and details about what happened and why are only just starting to become clear.
In the wake of such horrific events, is there any chance we can hold off on the political posturing and let people grieve a little first?
Don't get me wrong, the issues highlighted by this attack need to be dealt with, but our first priority should be to mourn with those who mourn and stand in solidarity with those affected.
