Wow. It has been a tough couple of months, particularly the past few weeks for all of us. A lot has happened just in the past 16 days including:

• The loss of beloved gorilla, Harambe.
• The sentencing of convicted rapist, Brock Turner.
• The loss of the beautiful voice and life of Christina Grimmie.
• The shock from the loss of dozens of souls at Pulse Nightclub in Orlando.

So many big events have caused explosions of commentary of all kinds all over America. Regardless of how you felt about these or any events, it’s almost just too much stimulation all at once.

The confusion and outrage has been immense and it seems like everything is just horrible right now, and well maybe it is.

I have personally felt confusion, shock, anger, and complete sadness from the events mentioned above. After seeing the arguments and opinions on social media, mainly Facebook…I have wanted to delete my apps and profiles and just go dark for a little while. I wished for a second that I could be ignorant of my surroundings and just go back to the age before technology so that I wouldn’t even know what is happening in the world. I have been a part of some heated debates about each of these happenings and felt even more confusion, hatred, shock, and sadness at not even the events themselves, but the response from these events by many. I’ve shared in the widespread feelings of just being defeated. It seems like we can’t even finish grieving one horrifying act before another one presents itself.

These are just my feelings, and I know that I share these with many people. But that is just me. I cannot even begin to know what else the rest of this country and world has going on in their lives. I cannot even begin to imagine the thoughts and feelings of those who have been personally involved in the events above or any others that we don’t even know of.

I thought about what I wanted to say about all the things that have been sending our country through this particular loop. It took some thought for me to really realize how much love is in this world regardless of the hate the presents over it.

I don’t want to make this a political argument about which presidential candidate responded better, what the sentencing should have been, who’s fault it was, who is to blame, or even what could have stopped this. Because in my opinion, they do not matter to me because they are not what is important right now. Personally I have decided to push my curiosity about the Turner Family, Omar Mateen, Kevin James Loibl, and the Gregg Family, aside. As much as we want to know about their lives and actions; about what happened and why it did, we need to stop focusing our attention on these people, and steer it to the lives that truly matter to us. The people that matter to us so much, whose lives have been affected deserve our thoughts and attention, those who have been a part of carrying out these actions deserve nothing from us.

I will not justify in any terms the actions of those that led to these tragedies. I do not want to merely forget and forgive. I do not want to take away the emphasis of the pain of those who feel it, or try to understand the utter chaos that our world has been sent into. Although I wish I could clearly see it right now, I don’t want to point to the bright side of other things because what is happening deserves our attention, prayers, thoughts, vibes, money, blood; whatever you can and do send out into the world right now. The hurt, the taken, and the rest of our country deserve our focus and love right now. I want to hear about the lives of the lost, of the hurt, of the affected. I want to know who they were and why they were so loved. I want to learn about these people so that I can begin to know them and properly grieve their passings.

It is very easy for all of us to shut down on the world and become hateful of humanity for what we do to ourselves. It’s perfectly okay to be angry, distraught, broken, confused, and numb. Whether you were directly affected by these horrifying events or just heard about them from miles away, it is your right to feel any way you do. It does not matter who you are, your sexual orientation, your beliefs, your race, your gender, or your country; Our humanity has felt more grief come into the world and we are allowed to have feelings about it.

At some point the tougher questions of: How do we stop this? What needs to be done? How can we fix this?, will come about. For some that point is now, and for some others it will come later. I wish I had the answers, I wish anyone had the answers of how to keep us safe while protecting our rights, how to help grief or stop it from every happening again, and how to fix what has so unfortunately been broken.

Everything seems horrible right now, and you know what, maybe it is. There is not an upside to the loss that our country is feeling right now. This is the time where we come together as humans and as a country and truly remember why we all have sacrificed so much in our lives to be proud of who we are in the country we all so love so much. It is not the time to perpetuate more hate or vengeance; I think we’ve seen enough of it. I don’t want to see a rapist's or a murder's face anymore than I already have. I am sick of seeing these people who have taken and used the lives of others for their own agenda and pleasure. I am tired of wasting my feelings and my time on the people who chose to bring so much more hate instead of joy into this world.

Whether you were alive or not, this country as been through a lot since we gained our independence not even 300 years ago. “United We Stand, Divided We Fall” is something I truly think everyone in this country needs to hear and/or remember. Our physical characteristics and orientation should and do not matter at this point in time, we are the citizens of the United States of America. We fight for what we believe in, we speak up for what we think is wrong, and we stand behind one another when we are threatened. Black, white, gay, straight, woman, man, believers, atheists, and many more beautiful differences are what our country is made up of. If we stand together no matter who we are, we cannot lose and I greatly wish people could truly believe in that. It is when we stay divided that not only do we fall to the outside world, but to our own. It doesn’t matter where they come from; an enemy of one becomes an enemy to us all.

The grieving time will be different for each of us. We have no other choice but to keep moving as life does not have a pause button. Although I would never wish to tell anyone how to feel or what to do with their own life – I strongly suggest we focus on the correct things and people. The ones we love and the ones that deserve our time. We should try not to add anymore hate into the world, I think we can all agree we have all seen enough and unfortunately there will probably be more to come. As the directly affected or just the strangers that are miles away, we stand together as one country and as humanity. The world has light, we just need to make it, find it, and amplify it. This is our home and these are our friends and more importantly our family. We look out for one another, and we should learn to love one another.

So in face of this most current tragedy, we stand with you Orlando. Not even just the rest of your country, but most of the rest of the world is with you. There is always a friend in the masses, light in the darkness, and pride in coming together. Love always wins, it’s time we start taking the road to love rather than hate more often. Maybe things won’t seem so horrible then.