In the wake of tragedy, do not forget humanity
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Friday morning started like any other. I woke up, let the dog out, showered and dressed for work while the sun was still down and my roommates were getting up. Just a morning, just a sunrise, just a day like any other. The coffee was brewing; the birds were chirping, absolutel nothing out of the ordinary for a mid-summer morning in Montana.
And then I looked at CNN.
Early Friday morning, a masked gunman walked into a crowded movie theatre in Aurora, Colo., and opened fire with a semi-automatic rifle, a .40-caliber handgun, and a 12-gauge shotgun.
He killed 12 people and wounded 58 others before going quietly into police custody. One of the victims was a 6-year-old girl.
In the days and weeks to come, you will hear many arguments on the news and in private. You will hear about how gun control laws should be more strict; you will hear how concealed-carry may have saved lives. You will hear analysis from psychologists, philosophers and fools. You will hear many people give impassioned, heartfelt, sad and angry speeches about how this could have been prevented, how sorry they are, and how this kind of thing seems to happen more and more as the years go on. These people will include the county sheriff, the FBI, the ATF, politicians from every governing body in these United States and a few world leaders from overseas.
You will hear the stories of survivors. You will hear the stories of the dead. These stories will come from their families and coworkers and friends. Many will cry.
You will hear about the facts, and these facts will be muddled with conjecture and opinion and guesswork on the why and the what-if and the maybe. You will see memorials spring up all over the country and hear about candlelight vigils and prayers and moments of silence for the sadly departed.
And all of it will be for naught, because nothing will change. A long list of mass shootings should serve as sufficient evidence: Virginia Tech, Columbine, Northern Illinois, California State, Fullerton, University of Texas, etc., etc., etc., Hundreds dead, a handful of gunmen, a variety of reasons and weapons and facts, but no real change.
In a few months, maybe a few years, many of you will want to believe everything has gone back to normal. Several opinion writers and news services have already started to bemoan the future and poke fun at the predictable chain of events listed above. I truly wish I could agree and chant in unison with the rest of them, but the idea that everything will be as it was is simply not true.
Make no mistake, something will change. It won’t be gun laws, politicians, safety precautions or attempts at prevention. Instead, it will be something much more precious. It will be our humanity.
Our hearts will harden a little more; we will trust our neighbors a little less: and we will hide our hope, love and joy a little deeper within ourselves. Next time, we’ll say, next time they won’t be able to get at us so easily. Next time, it won’t hurt so much. Next time, we’ll be ready.
If you are reading this, the odds are staggeringly high that we don’t know each other. We’ve never met and we will most likely never meet. I can think of no better time to ask something of you.
Please, do not let this tragedy cast a shadow over your heart. Don’t become bitter; don’t hide within yourself; and don’t point fingers or assign blame. The politicians, celebrities and talking heads of the world have these techniques down to a science; leave the fear-mongering and hate-fueled rhetoric to the experts.
Instead, I ask you to fight.
Fight for our humanity with the same veracity and passion as those who would see it taken from us. Lend a helping hand to those in need; accept help from those willing to give it, and continue to trust others with hope beyond reason.
Mahatma Gandhi once said, “You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.”
Don’t lose hope; keep fighting.
