When the second plane hit the south tower on September 11th, it became clear that we were under attack and I remember thinking that I needed to do something. Over the next few weeks I spent a lot of time doing some soul searching and figuring out what being an American meant to me. I watched as my country came together and rose above the fray. I watched as we acted like neighbors, helped each other, and rallied around each other. It was then I realized that you were a people worth dying for, and this was a country worth fighting for, and I walked into the recruiters office.
Fifteen years later and things are very different
Sunday morning I awoke early to prepare for church and I was greeted with the news that someone had attacked a nightclub in Orlando, shooting as many as 50 people, and before the bodies were even moved, we began to attack each other.
Over the last two days I’ve seen this blamed on Christians, guns, homosexuals, Muslims, the NRA, Republicans, Democrats, and more. Our “leaders” have all joined in, dropping a soap box on warm dead bodies to peddle whatever cause they believe is going to get them elected. Members of congress are interrupting moments of silence (I’m sure the fact that it’s an election year with expected high turnout has nothing to do with these tantrums on the floor).
Families had not even been notified yet, and we turned our backs on them and begun pointing fingers at each other; it still hasn’t stopped.
We couldn’t take even one day to mourn? We couldn’t stop and feel sympathy for all those mothers who are grieving the loss of the most important people to them? Are we so eager to hate each other that we step over bodies and yell at each other covered in their blood?
“Mommy I love you”
Right now there are parents who simply cannot stop crying, and you can’t stop bickering. It’s embarrassing.
I get it, you’re angry, but how about you blame that piece of shit coward and not all the people that didn’t shoot up the Orlando nightclub? How about you turn around and give someone a hug and tell them you love them? How about you act like Americans and leaders instead of psychos in the comments section?
You’ve become so conditioned to act in anger, so conditioned to live in your own echo chamber where a dissenting opinion is only a block and “unfollow” away, that you have forgotten that these people are still your neighbors.
At this point, I fear we’re too far gone.
I’m not sure what will fix it, but I refuse to blame all the people that didn’t pull the trigger in Orlando. I refuse to engage in more vitriol, there is plenty of that already. In stubborn resolve, I choose to love my neighbor. If this is a one man stand, so be it; it’s not the first time a paratrooper has taken on an army.
-LJF
So much truth here. People worry so much about who to blame, who’s “fault” it is, and it just causes more hatred while ignoring the problem. People who were just out on the town having a good time didn’t get to go home. Ever. And everyone forgets all about it, the very next time something bad happens.
You go boy!