Waking up to the sound of soaring helicopters above my apartment and a text asking about my safety, I was confused and concerned about what was happening. I did not realize until I turned the news on that things were so much worse than I could have ever imagined. Tragedies happen like this all over the country, especially all over the world, but never did I think it would happen to my hometown. Never would I expect this awful act to happen right in my backyard. It’s the oldest story in the book: you never think it could happen to you, someone you know or occur right in your neighborhood. Orlando may be home to the worst mass shooting in the country. Orlando may be a big city, a place booming with tourists, known for its theme parks. Orlando is home to beautiful Lake Eola. Orlando is a lot of unique things but to me, Orlando is simply home, always has and always will be.
Like a horrific nightmare that I can’t wake up from, I have spent the day watching the news channels and hearing the disappointing updates. Although curious of the why, what, who and honestly how the hell did this happen, I’m still beyond sick of seeing the attackers face, which is engraved into my mind. I have been feeling a lot of things: sadness, and sympathy, but most importantly anger at this deeply disturbing situation. Anger at someone for invading my home, my town and my community. Anger at someone for bringing terror into my community. Anger and intense sadness for all those innocent lives affected by this. I apologize to the LGBT community, people directly affected and their loved ones. I can’t fathom being in your situation. I hope and pray you find healing and comfort.
However, like most shootings, this situation brings up many serious and controversial conversations. This could have happened anywhere. Any American could have been that innocent life that was taken. Do we live in fear? Do we stay in our homes and avoid public places? If we choose to never go see a movie in the theaters or go dancing at a club, are we even really living our life then? That's surely not living in a land of the free.
This is simply another awful situation which brings up arguments over the second amendment too. I won't give my political opinions because that's not the focus of this article. Let's comfort our neighbors, then debate gun control policies later. But I will say this: we, as Americans, as a country, need to figure our sh*t out before things get worse than they already are. Our worst fears just happened in Orlando.
As if this next upcoming presidential election wasn’t important enough already, it just got way more intense. Because when terrible things happen, we need a real leader who will protect us. Think about this: if the FBI is currently watching over 800 people who could potentially be sympathetic to ISIS, that’s about 16 people per state who could do something like this. Are we terrified yet? America, let’s get our heads out of our asses.
