We can try to mend the broken hearts but we will never be able to mend ourselves. The Orlando shooting touched everyone here in America and overseas, but blame has been rampant. People take the easy way out by blaming a religion or guns, without realizing that this shooting was not a cause of guns or of a belief system. We are to blame for the Orlando shooting because our culture thrives on differences and divisions. This shooting is about an issue our society has been facing since its foundation: differences. America may come to appreciate differences, but it does not accept just as easily.

This society thrives on the division of people based on race, sexuality, gender, class, and religion, among others. The Orlando shooting is caused by a culture that deems it appropriate to demonize differences, which leads to someone taking out their anger out at the corrupt system through violence. Society does not want to celebrate our differences, but seeks to divide us further. We take pride in our identities, but we never take pride in someone else's identity. This shooting taught us to celebrate our differences and revive the sense of humanity that was lost in our society prior to it. Now, everyone is waving the LGBTQ+ flag and parading for gay rights, but no one is standing for humanity. No one is thinking about how this tragedy sparked a sense of love in everyone's heart. People are voicing their opinion on how their religion calls for loving all people and how waving a flag relieves some of the sorrow that was felt at the Orlando shooting. Real love is through the actions of people as we move forward with peace in our hearts and kindness on our tongues. It is with love that we move forward and love that we need to remember. This shooting can take us forward to an era of love or the continued era of hatred.

Our society never forgot how to hate. Since America's beginning, hatred for the "other" has been an established practice. This society despises those that are not like them, as if they do not deserve the love and kindness. We need to all strive to represent the love that is sparked in light of this tragedy as our actions and mark ourselves as the generation of love rather than continue hating one another based on petty differences.

The instant this tragedy occurred, the media had to blame someone because people want answers. Our lack of patience makes this even more unnerving since we want the answers instantly. This makes it easy for society to come and divide people up since it gives the majority of them the "answers" they want while demonizing an entire group or groups of people. Rather than blaming each other, we should first blame ourselves. We need to remember that we are all human beings, and our differences cannot divide us.