“Love is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love, is love. It cannot be killed or swept aside. I sing Vanessa’s symphony. Eliza tells her story. Now fill the world with music, love, and pride.”
These were the words spoken in the beautiful and emotional sonnet Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote at the Tony Awards. Words that brought out exactly how I been feeling since the deadly shooting in Orlando, Florida, on June 12, 2016. 49 people were killed, 53 injured, and many hearts broken. Pulse nightclub was a place for the LGBTQIA+ community to have fun and enjoy music. To be with friends and feel safe. Yet one man (his name will not be mentioned in this post because I believe it has been heard enough) decided to react to his homophobia and take matters into his own hands with a AR-15 rifle.
I write this post not to be political or religious, but to tell all of you, my readers that enough is enough. This man took away someone’s son, daughter, niece, nephew, mom, granddaughter, grandson, best friend, lover, coworker, and manager. He took the innocent lives of people whose stories now have a tragic ending. People who died too young and had dreams to accomplish. These 49 individuals are now angels because of a man who could not look the other way. Intolerance has always been an issue whether it’s due to skin color, social status, sexual orientation, or religion.
I understand not everyone was raised with the same beliefs. I understand it is often difficult for people not to condemn someone else for who or how they are. What I do not understand is what right does that person have to take someone else’s life? Sandy Hook Elementary, Virginia Tech, and now Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. How many more shootings does America and the world have to experience before something can be done? How many more lives need to be taken? My heart goes out to those who died and were injured in the Orlando shooting. It angers me not because most of the victims were Puerto Rican, or that the community was LGBTQIA+. I am angered because all those individuals were human beings.
Everyone wants to make the world a better place, but tolerance and acceptance needs to be learned first. Love needs to be learned. Please, let us all love and support one another without discrimination. Love is love no matter what. “Fill the world with music, love, and pride.”
Banner Image: alltheprettybirds.com
Video: Embarrassment of Riches
Note: I visit the Pulse Memorial at Orlando a few weeks later.
Last Updated: December 27, 2021