Every Fracture

"All the blood and all the sweat
That we invested to be loved
Follows us into our end,
Where we begin to understand ...
We are made of love,
And every fracture caused by the lack of it." 
 - Needle And Thread, by Sleeping At Last



Yesterday, I read the news about the shooting in Florida, the massacre of 50 unsuspecting people and the injury of at least 53 more. I didn't know a single one of them by name, yet tears filled my eyes. I read President Obama's speech, in which he said,
"We pray for their families, who are grasping for answers with broken hearts."

Of course he also address the issue of gun violence, and how we as a nation need to stand together, saying
"This could have been any one of our cities ...We have to decide if that's the kind of country we want to be. To actively do nothing is a decision as well."

Finally he said,

"In the coming hours and days, we’ll learn about the victims of this tragedy. Their names. Their faces. Who they were. The joy that they brought to families and to friends, and the difference that they made in this world. Say a prayer for them and say a prayer for their families—that God give them the strength to bear the unbearable. And that He give us all the strength to be there for them, and the strength and courage to change. We need to demonstrate that we are defined more—as a country—by the way they lived their lives than by the hate of the man who took them from us."

This event, I've read, is being called the deadliest shooting in American history. 

When people talk about gun control, I think about the line from "V For Vendetta" which says,
"People should not be afraid of their government. A government should be afraid of their people." Because there is always a line between laws which safeguard and which take away freedom. It's a fine balance, it seems. The problem is, I believe that people will always find a way to get guns, whether through black markets or 3D printers or other means. Or they can make a bomb in their garage - violence is always accessible to those who wish to do harm. It doesn't matter who the victims are, as in why they were targeted (African Americans, gays, Christians, Americans in general): surely in the end all victims are equal and all who victimize are evil. Whether a crime is in the name of some sect or religion (ISIS or otherwise), we mourn. We mourn the loss of life, the loss of safety, and the growth of evil which spreads with every successful kill. The Twin Towers, the bombing at the Boston Marathon, and countless shootings in schools and theaters and churches. This is not okay.

Yet how to respond? How to even start to make the world better?
The response to this massacre is, at least, encouraging: record numbers of people donating blood to help those injured, and numerous churches who have hosted prayer vigils. Responding to hate with love.

I don't know what the answer is. I don't know how to combat ISIS or any other forms of hatred and violence and control, except to pray. So I pray for the families of the victims. I pray for anyone else tempted to pick up a gun and kill. I pray for everyone effected by this unnecessary loss. I pray that we as a nation, as the human race even, will respond to hate with love.