I WAKE up Sunday morning and check my news feed. From the Los Angeles Times, 20 dead from at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and 42 WOUNDED. But the information is sketchy, as it is WONT to be early in an incident.
WENT to church. Put this event on the prayer list. WEIRD, because most people hadn’t heard the news yet.
Go home, check the news again. Now it’s reported that 50 are dead, and 53 WOUNDED. WOW, America, WE have a WINNER! WORST mass shooting in modern American history.
I peruse Facebook and comment on nothing, even though I WEEP inside. I become WARY of early reports about terrorism. I WATCH the usual suspects saying WORN out statements, WARNING us to be WATCHFUL, and that WHAT WE need is more guns, or fewer guns.
Someone or other says, “This cannot become the new normal.” Yet, at the end of the day, I figure that nothing will change. People will offer their thoughts and prayers, and WONDER if now might be a good time to talk about gun control. But it’s never the right time; we need to WAIT.
There are always those WTF statements about how the shootings were “God’s retribution” about same-sex marriage, WHICH are trotted out with almost every tragedy that fits a certain narrative. I just can’t WASTE my outrage on this WARPED thinking.
There is a new twist, though. Will the terrorism angle WIN out over the attack on the LGBT community as the most important narrative? OMG, I have to stop WATCHING this stuff. I understand WHY people turn off the news.
I’m pretty much staying off Facebook for a bit, because it’s toxic usually, it is more so now, and it makes me WEARY. Consider this my blanket statement of appreciation for every heartfelt response of WARMTH and compassion, and sympathy for those who mourn.
(WANDERING thoughts at 4:30 a.m.)
I had such a full day Sunday that I didn’t know something horrifying had happened until the evening.
Horrifying. The crime, the reactions.
Oh Roger! What is this world coming to? This is so tragic, yet another senseless example of hatred. I, too, used the word “weeping” this week, but it is on a more personal level.
Leslie
abcw team
I caught the early reports first thing in the morning. Topic of discussion at church – I belong to one of the more liberal (in the sense of acceptance) denominations and a couple of the friends I have there are gay. And it was a goodly part in the prayer time. And even an older man I know there, who isn’t “comfortable” (his words) with the gay “lifestyle” (again, his word, and the scare quote is because I know there are so many differences there is no one “gay lifestyle”) expressed sadness and anger about what had happened.
I’ve seen some people mildly bashing Christians for being anti-gay and I really want to go #notallChristians but I also realize in some cases that kind of argument doesn’t convince people and also it doesn’t really contribute much to help at the moment.
I keep thinking about all my lovely friends and family members who weren’t there but would have been targets if they had happened to live in that place and time. What makes anyone think that they have a right to take someone away from the people who love them?
I did hear it much later but I too was horrified by it. Although a ‘winner’ as such, nobody winns anything by such events.
It frightnes me…the thought of were our world is going to… and I can do nothing to change its course… but sending my prayers to all hurt and in so much need.
Weeping….What more can I say?
My heart bleeds for all the poor people involved in this outrage, and I too weep silently at the pain and misery the families and friends of the victims must feel.
All I can do is pray, pray for the innocents but most of all pray for the perpetrators to stop it! JUST STOP IT NOW !
A simple line from St John “Whoever loves God must love his brother as well”.
Thought provoking words from you Roger
and so eloquently put, Thank you.
Best wishes,
Di’
ABCW team.
Like many I heard about it when we came home from church. At first it didn’t dawn on me how serious this was, but then when I started reading the newsfeed of FB I started realizing the magnitude of this attack. The only thing I can pray that this will bring about a shift in the right direction.
A very mindful post, Roger, and one that expresses the sadness such mindless hatred engenders.
Ha! If God was retributing(not sure if that’s a word) we’d all be dead.
I believe I posted on your Facebook.
Leslie
abcw team
Sadness all around.
My ABC WEDNESDAY
This is really bad. Some people have lost all senses.
Going to the NYC pride parade with my daughter and love people. …
When I was a teen working hard at Riis Park, IN THE Early 70’s, the gay beach (Bay 1) was the sweet place to work. The guys were SO CRAZY AND so kind, and if someone got mean with the little girl in the ticket booth, they were put in their place, by the guys who did not take love & kindness for granted. Bay 1 was their safe space, no being mean, much less violent allowed. It was peace and love there. But if you had to work with the wacko “normal” people & families further up the boardwalk….you learned to stand up to bullies for yourself (cause the Bay 1 boys made you know you were worth it!) So, I grew up in a righteous place. I was blessed.
AND Blessed BE THE Parade day!!
It is just horrible what happened ! You are not safe anymore wherever you go in the world. We here in Brussels have been victims to. The worst is that one single man can shoot so many people !
This was a very, very tragic thing. Horrific! My heart goes out to the loved ones of all who lost their precious lives in this horrendous massacre.
I don’t follow the news very closely but from what little I have read, I believe it is simply impossible to rule out any angle when trying to understand what causes so much hate and anger in somebody.
In my “Letter U” post I wrote about how catastrophes in our country like the 9/11 and Catrina have united our country and the world. However, some of the hateful and mindless comments that have come from some so called “Christians” and “political leaders” are just disconcerting and frightening to me as the father of two young ladies. Instead of uniting us in grief and a search for REAL solutions, this massacre has further divided us with these people’s rhetoric of separatism. May God have mercy on us.
Depressing how much hate is in peoples hearts. For such horrific acts words fail.
I’m amazed that nobody mentions Islam and yet TWO commenters point their fingers at Christians. Let me point out something. Somebody who doesn’t want to sell you a wedding cake is NOT AS BAD as someone who wants to kill you. Let’s shift that focus over to where it belongs. An imam in ORLANDO said homosexuals should be killed.
Our country really needs prayers and a better mental health system.
The shooter’s parents said it was a hate crime, and “nothing to do with religion.” One of the shooter’s former co-workers – an ex-cop – said he wasn’t surprised the unhinged homophobe committed mass murder. The shooter’s imam in Florida asserted that claiming allegiance to Daesh (IS/ISIS/ISIL) was nothing but a PR ploy by the mass murderer. http://occupydemocrats.com/2016/06/13/fbi-parents-of-orlando-shooter-hes-not-a-terrorist-just-an-american-homophobe/
I don’t understand, nor do I want to be able to understand, why so many people in our country adamantly feel they have the right to own weapons of mass destruction.