Today, I mourn. I grieve. I ache for those lives senselessly taken.
My sadness goes further than Orlando.; deeper than the LGBT community.
I cry for America.
Today’s horrific tragedy is not a political issue. It is not a 2nd Amendment issue. It is not a lifestyle issue. This is an American issue; it is a human issue.
This could have happened at a mall, or a preschool, or a church, or an office, or a public pool, or any gathering of peaceful people living under the umbrella of freedom that we all treasure.
Yet we allow hateful speech to become part of our everyday news. We allow shootings to be so commonplace that it’s not until a ‘mass shooting’ takes place that we take notice. We allow violence to prevail; racism to be tolerated; rapes to be justified; inaction to be considered progress; and individuals to be grouped together and marginalized as lesser in our society.
Today, I mourn. For those who lost a friend or loved one in Orlando, words will never adequately express my sympathies. Despite the anger we feel, we must resolve to work together to better our society, to further our common goals and interests. We must remember that all lives are created equal, and that we are endowed with certain unalienable Rights; that among them are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.
Today, we must continue to look forward, and pledge not revenge, not divisiveness, but collaboration. Despite our differences, we remain strongest when we are united. Whether this evil is foreign or domestic, there is no room in our world for intolerance or inaction. Every life holds value, and our Rights must never be abridged. Today we must stand together again as the United States of America.