Tragedy in Orlando

Tragedy struck in Orlando, Florida on Saturday. In what appears to be the largest mass shooting in U.S. history and one of the worst terror attacks since 9/11, a man walked into a nightclub, slaughtered forty-nine people and wounded countless others. I have waited until now to say anything about this, primarily because I have been trying to fully process the horrific nature of this crime; trying to comprehend what could bring a human being to kill his fellow human beings like this; trying to understand why this keeps happening and why nothing ever seems to be done to prevent it. It's hard to know what to say in the face of such evil, such sadness.

My heart breaks every time something like this happens. My heart breaks for the victims whose lives were taken from them prematurely, but most of all my heart breaks for their families who had their loved ones ripped away from them in such a tragic and brutal manner. Tragedies like these don't only affect the victims and their families, but also every one of us. An attack on any American is an attack on every American, and even more so, an attack on anyone is an attack on all of us as human beings. As these shootings become more and more and more commonplace I think we all find ourselves becoming increasingly more callous. It's far too easy to brush off these massacres as "just the way it is now." Let's not ever cease to be horrified and saddened at these acts of terror.

While there is obviously a political discussion to be had, I am not going to get political here. Now isn't the time for division or politics. Forty-nine people were just brutally murdered. Forty-nine families just lost their loved ones. We should pray for them, grieve with them, support them. Then, let's channel our emotions, our anger over what happened into action. For now, hold your loved ones a little closer tonight and spend a few minutes thanking God for them because you never know when they might be taken away from you. God bless and keep you all.