My week has been filled with tears and many arguments on social media over gun ownership, LGBTQ rights and religion. So many controversies are merged into one due to the recent tragedy in Orlando, Florida. Omar Mateen is responsible for the deaths of 49 people and the injuries of over 50 others. From what I see on Facebook, it seems as if there is a large divide of what people hold responsible for what made this man kill. So many blame his Islamic faith while others blame the society he was raised in, a society that criticizes the LGBTQ community. I am personally sick and tired of these debates. I am sick of hearing how “all Muslims are evil,” when Mateen’s congregation urged people to donate blood to help the victims. I am sick of posting something online in memory of the victims and then getting a bible verse in the comments saying that God condemns all gay people to hell.

This world is so incredibly divided but so is the United States. This is our country and we can do something about it. Instead of criticizing people who are different than you, or hold different values, or who have different political opinions, try to understand why they believe the things they do. Understanding your fellow man is very important. After all, this quote, whose author is unknown, says it best, “What we do not understand, we fear. What we fear, we judge as evil. What we judge as evil we attempt to control. And what we cannot control... We attack.”

I’ve seen so many people attacking each other online and I want to encourage tolerance for one another.

I want to acknowledge the fact that no one deserves to be gunned down in a place that gives an individual a sense of safety and acceptance. Anyone that thinks these men and women deserved what happened to them is not a decent human being and I find it very unlikely that someone could convince me otherwise. These men and women were targeted simply because of who they love. The LGBTQ community are not strangers to violent acts and seeing their own killed because of who they are. But, in a time where equal marriage is legalized in our country, where the LGBTQ community is slowly becoming more present in the media, this devastating event is a shock. We knew that there would still be battles to win and discrimination to face, but we truly hoped that violence on this large scale was past us.

The truth is we need to stop looking at everyone as different from us. The more we categorize people the more likely we are divided. Stop seeing gay, Christian, Muslim, democrat and republican, but rather individual human beings that need compassion. So look through the eyes of someone you do not understand.