I wasn't sure if I wanted to write this post. It's kind of like writing about politics - - you're going to piss half the population off and get emotions running sky high. But it's weighing on my mind and I haven't written on this site recently (bad me). I do have a good excuse for not writing though - - I am working on projects.
The attack in Orlando reminded me somewhat of Columbine only in the sense that our society seems to be moving to opposite ends of the spectrum since 1999. There was outrage, shock, horror and unbelieving when Columbine happened. Bear in mind that Columbine was not the first school shooting but the sheer violence of it and the number of dead and wounded struck a chord in Americans. Seeing kids - - kids - - running from their school in fright and even dangling out of windows in a desperate attempt to escape were horribly powerful images. As much as there were days when I didn't want to go to school in my youth, school was still a place of safety. Never did I worry that I would be physically harmed, much less taken down with a gun by a classmate.
It's now 2016 and I'm no longer a teenager (although if I could go back then knowing what I know now . . . ) Hearing about the senseless attack at the nightclub in Orlando it seems that there is almost a sense of resignation in this world. There is sadness, yes, and there is shock and anger. As well there should be. But isn't there also a feeling of "again?" or just a weary sigh that it's happened somewhere else?
I know many people feel the problem is guns. I agree that we need to have stricter gun control laws. But someone like the Orlando killer, who I will not dignify by naming, that is so intent on harming a group of people for whatever reason is going to do so by whatever method possible. Yes, a gun makes it easier and usually ups the victim count. I get that.
So what is the answer?
Hate and intolerance have been around since Cain killed Abel. It's sad and discouraging. Can we end it by posting memes and asking people to stop? Maybe, maybe not.
Rather than focusing on the hatred and the intolerance - - which I think is nothing more than old fashioned fear - - I find some level of hope in how people react. Showing compassion, reaching out to victims, donating blood, celebrating the victims and the heroes and standing united. It reminds me of the ice storm that hit my hometown of Atlanta and neighboring Alabama a year or so ago. The national media did little more than laugh at the stupid southerners who freaked out over a little ice and how a big city like Atlanta shut itself down from this little bit of inclement weather. The people actually in it though? Many of them banded together to take coffee, hot chocolate, water, sandwiches and fruit on foot to persons trapped in their vehicles. They offered shelter to strangers, cold in their cars. They took their own vehicles, with chains, to help pull others out. In other words, they came together as a community to support each other.
That's what I hope we will get out of this terrible tragedy. In the end, we're all just people.
Rant over. Back to my normal sarcasm.
