When a tragedy like the Orlando shooting occurs, it can be hard to know how to feel. There are so many emotions and headlines jolting through phones, through conversations, and through heads. One week later and there are still so many questions. Just to start, "Why, with what motivation, and what should we do?" The hardest part is realizing most of those questions will go unanswered. We may never get anything concrete that we can stand on. But we do have one answer. What we do have is who.

Forty-nine people, aging from 18 to 50. Men, women, and children were lost. On June 12th we lost mothers, we lost brothers, we lost honor students and artists, we lost future designers, singers, photographers and friends. We lost forty-nine bright lights on this ever dimming earth. What we did not lose was our solidarity. You did not need to personally know any of the victims to feel the unadulterated, bitter weight of their deaths. As the headlines scrolled across our screens on Sunday morning, we were all given the burden of knowing that monsters are a very real thing.

"These people are monsters...we are not the monsters. The rest of us, you included, you are not the monster...And just like these make-believe monsters that people get scared of, they feed off of fear as well. And so, what we can't do, is we can not play into that. We can't let them feed off of our fear. We can't give them the pleasure of watching us, like little children, jump from the carpet to the bed. We can't let them witness us running up the basement stairs when we flip off the light. ... You cannot give into that fear. We do not have to be afraid of the dark that they live in." - Burnie Burns (Social Commentator) 4/15/13

We do not have to be afraid of the dark. Our jobs as members of the interconnected and unified community that is humanity is to remember Orlando. It is to remember every one of those snuffed lives. There is little more to say. Tragedy truncates like that. There is so much to say until you remember there isn’t. These people are not political determinants, they are not statistics, and they are not bullet points to be used to further agendas. They are people. I ask you now to read their names and remember. Even for just a moment, let them cross your mind. Remember not the hate, but remember simply that there is still more good to do.

Stanley Almodovar III, 23 years old

Amanda Alvear, 25 years old

Oscar A Aracena-Montero, 26 years old

Rodolfo Ayala-Ayala, 33 years old

Antonio Davon Brown, 29 years old

Darryl Roman Burt II, 29 years old

Angel L. Candelario-Padro, 28 years old

Juan Chevez-Martinez, 25 years old

Luis Daniel Conde, 39 years old

Cory James Connell, 21 years old

Tevin Eugene Crosby, 25 years old

Deonka Deidra Drayton, 32 years old

Simon Adrian Carrillo Fernandez, 31 years old

Leroy Valentin Fernandez, 25 years old

Mercedez Marisol Flores, 26 years old

Peter O. Gonzalez-Cruz, 22 years old

Juan Ramon Guerrero, 22 years old

Paul Terrell Henry, 41 years old

Frank Hernandez, 27 years old

Miguel Angel Honorato, 30 years old

Javier Jorge-Reyes, 40 years old

Jason Benjamin Josaphat, 19 years old

Eddie Jamoldroy Justice, 30 years old

Anthony Luis Laureanodisla, 25 years old

Christopher Andrew Leinonen, 32 years old

Alejandro Barrios Martinez, 21 years old

Brenda Lee Marquez McCool, 49 years old

Gilberto Ramon Silva Menendez, 25 years old

Kimberly Morris, 37 years old

Akyra Monet Murray, 18 years old

Luis Omar Ocasio-Capo, 20 years old

Geraldo A. Ortiz-Jimenez, 25 years old

Eric Ivan Ortiz-Rivera, 36 years old

Joel Rayon Paniagua, 32 years old

Jean Carlos Mendez Perez, 35 years old

Enrique L. Rios, Jr., 25 years old

Jean C. Nives Rodriguez, 27 years old

Xavier Emmanuel Serrano Rosado, 35 years old

Christopher Joseph Sanfeliz, 24 years old

Yilmary Rodriguez Solivan, 24 years old

Edward Sotomayor Jr., 34 years old

Shane Evan Tomlinson, 33 years old

Martin Benitez Torres, 33 years old

Jonathan Antonio Camuy Vega, 24 years old

Juan P. Rivera Velazquez, 37 years old

Luis S. Vielma, 22 years old

Franky Jimmy Dejesus Velazquez, 50 years old

Luis Daniel Wilson-Leon, 37 years old

Jerald Arthur Wright, 31 years old

Thank you.