An Important Tangent

I'm taking a break from my usual Yellowstone based posts, because I need to say something. 

I've been thinking a lot about the nightclub shooting in Orlando. As much as I've tried to avoid reading the news while I'm here (ignorance is bliss, as they say), the news of this shooting was everywhere. 

People fear what they don't understand. It's a perfectly natural human inclination. Problems arise, however, when people act out of this fear. This is where prejudice and discrimination begin. 

In this particular case, there is news now that the shooter himself was gay. This makes what he did even worse, if that's even possible, because he targeted people who know best the struggles that he has faced. He took his own fear and pain out on people who did absolutely nothing wrong. He stole the lives of people who had everything ahead of them, everything to live for. 

It's a classic bullying complex. The bully doesn't understand why the short, nerdy kid out-performs him in all school subjects, so he acts out of the fear of failure with violence. Except that in this case, the bully used an AR-15 instead of his fists. And 50 people are dead because they had enough confidence in themselves to go to a gay nightclub, while the shooter was most likely struggling with accepting his identity. 

There are many things that I don't understand, and senseless killing is one of them. 

Everyone focuses on their differences rather than finding common ground to stand on. I am always struck from the Harry Potter quote that says, "while we may come from different places and speak in different tongues, our hearts beat as one." Learning to embrace our differences and celebrate our similarities is the only way to end the hatred and intolerances that lead to such horrific events as the Pulse shooting. 

We all need to do our collective best to be accepting, kind, and empathetic to everyone around us. Remember that we are not all so different in the end, and be patient with people who may see the world differently. And keep the families of the 50 dead and 50 more injured in your hearts.