What do you write about on a day like today?
I woke up this morning in a great mood. That rarely happens. And it was short-lived. After completing the “chores” of the morning routine, I checked my mail and news at 5:30 a.m. One of the headlines informed us that a “shooting was reported at an Orlando Night Club.”
I thought to myself that it might be a quarrel, or drug deal. There was no other information at that time on my morning “skim” of the headlines.
About four hours later, I flipped on the TV. Of course, at that point, the details of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history were evolving. Fifty people dead. Fifty three injured. The massacre took place at a Gay Nightclub. It was conducted by Omar Mir Seddique Mateen, who was born in 1986 in New York.
So. What do you write about on a day like today?
I am so completely turned over by this. I’m angry. I am sad. I’m worried.
There is much speculation at this point. Politicos are weighing in. Donald Trump warned President Obama and Hilary Clinton that they need to say the words “Radical Islam.” Or else…. they should step down from office.
Obama stated after meeting with the Director of the FBI: “We’ve reached no definitive judgment on the precise motivations of the killer. The FBI is appropriately investigating this as an act of terrorism. And I’ve directed that we must spare no effort to determine what — if any — inspiration or association this killer may have had with terrorist groups. What is clear is that he was a person filled with hatred. “
I’ve read comments online. One individual commented, “It is a good start,” in reference to the LGBT community.
And then there is the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, who Tweeted, the words of Galatians 6:7. The verse reads, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows.” He later deleted the Tweet after an outpouring of criticism.
There are the views that say… “If I had been there with my concealed carry, I would have stopped the guy.”
Despite it all, there are lots of people joining together, offering support. Helping one another.
We all want answers. Or sides drawn. Or retribution. Then. In some cases, there is an underlying applause for “who” perished in this.
It all makes my heart, and my head, so very heavy.
I’ve quoted those big thinkers, like Socrates, on this. “The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.”
We truly know nothing. We are transients here. We are spirits in human bodies right now, trying to make sense of our existence as such.
But here is what I think we should do after a day like today. This is what I feel we should do.
Treat someone…. …. anyone…. everyone… with kindness. Give somebody a break today. Do something unexpectedly nice. Hug somebody. Tell one person, something good. Show your most precious, good self. Even if it is just once today. Right now, I think we all need something to come our way which is kind, and whole, and fine. We all can make that happen.
Something good this way comes.
“It is an absolute human certainty that no one can know his own beauty or perceive a sense of his own worth until it has been reflected back to him in the mirror of another loving, caring human being.” ― John Joseph Powell