Keep Your Opinions to Yourself- At Least for a Moment
I struggled with how and if to tackle this topic. It is a departure from the usual workplace and parenting messages I usually send, but it is weighing heavily on my heart, and I feel that it is something I have to address.
I am struggling with two very strong emotions surrounding the San Bernardino shootings. I am struggling with Fear and Disappointment. My family and I went to a Christmas Lights and Candlelight walk celebration this weekend and instead of thoroughly enjoying this gathering of 9,000 community members joined in peace, I was looking over my shoulder with a looming sense of anxiety. There have been terrorist attacks before and I always felt safe, but this time it's personal.
My hometown is San Bernardino. I grew up there and those streets are more than familiar to me. I worked several times in the Outback Steakhouse where employees were on lock down and shots were heard from inside, and yes, I knew one of the 14. When something like this hits so close to home there is bound to be some anxiety in the activities that you once felt safe participating in. I have made the conscious decision not to live in fear and to do all of the activities I would do if there was not looming evil in the world, sometimes it takes some convincing of myself.
There are three ways to deal with atrocities such as this. You can live in fear, you can band together or you can express anger and spout political and religious opinions. This is where the feeling of disappointment arises. The media has pictured San Bernardino as a community that is banding together to bring good from this incident, and while there is some of this going on, there is another side of the story.
Before the lock downs could even be lifted social media began to explode with debates over gun control, hateful things about Christians, even more hateful things about Muslims and general and ugliness ensued. I know this because it was occurring, and still is occurring on MY social media pages. The people I know, the people I love, the people who I will always love no matter what their views and opinions were spreading hateful messages before the victims were even identified. What a terrible thing for the families and friends of these people to have to read, to be bombarded with hate that is no more tragic then the event that occurred. Talk about insult to injury.
I was so overwhelmed by the lack of community within my social feed that I had to remove myself from social media for a little while, to sit back and contemplate how I felt about the situation. I realized that the media only tells us part of the story. My friends and family are pissed, and I totally understand that. I don't try to take sides on the gun control debate, and I stand firm in my faith, but my heart breaks for the families of those who were directly affected, this tragedy isn't about me and my opinions. While those conversations are very real, and they need to be had, maybe some time should be taken to process and just give these poor people time to mourn. I have several of those people affected on my social media feed I would like to point out that the only thing on many of their feeds is loving pictures of her passed love ones and the times they spent together, gratitude expressed for prayers and well wishes, and mostly silence.
The gun control debate needs happen by people who feel much more strongly about than I do. It absolutely does. But community and healing and love spreading needs to happen first. I wanted my friends and family to band together and take a moment of silence away from their own opinions to just be together as a community, to process what had happened, to make a proactive positive dent in the tragedy that had occurred. I was deeply disappointed.
I am struggling with two very strong emotions surrounding the San Bernardino shootings. I am struggling with Fear and Disappointment. My family and I went to a Christmas Lights and Candlelight walk celebration this weekend and instead of thoroughly enjoying this gathering of 9,000 community members joined in peace, I was looking over my shoulder with a looming sense of anxiety. There have been terrorist attacks before and I always felt safe, but this time it's personal.
My hometown is San Bernardino. I grew up there and those streets are more than familiar to me. I worked several times in the Outback Steakhouse where employees were on lock down and shots were heard from inside, and yes, I knew one of the 14. When something like this hits so close to home there is bound to be some anxiety in the activities that you once felt safe participating in. I have made the conscious decision not to live in fear and to do all of the activities I would do if there was not looming evil in the world, sometimes it takes some convincing of myself.
There are three ways to deal with atrocities such as this. You can live in fear, you can band together or you can express anger and spout political and religious opinions. This is where the feeling of disappointment arises. The media has pictured San Bernardino as a community that is banding together to bring good from this incident, and while there is some of this going on, there is another side of the story.
Before the lock downs could even be lifted social media began to explode with debates over gun control, hateful things about Christians, even more hateful things about Muslims and general and ugliness ensued. I know this because it was occurring, and still is occurring on MY social media pages. The people I know, the people I love, the people who I will always love no matter what their views and opinions were spreading hateful messages before the victims were even identified. What a terrible thing for the families and friends of these people to have to read, to be bombarded with hate that is no more tragic then the event that occurred. Talk about insult to injury.
I was so overwhelmed by the lack of community within my social feed that I had to remove myself from social media for a little while, to sit back and contemplate how I felt about the situation. I realized that the media only tells us part of the story. My friends and family are pissed, and I totally understand that. I don't try to take sides on the gun control debate, and I stand firm in my faith, but my heart breaks for the families of those who were directly affected, this tragedy isn't about me and my opinions. While those conversations are very real, and they need to be had, maybe some time should be taken to process and just give these poor people time to mourn. I have several of those people affected on my social media feed I would like to point out that the only thing on many of their feeds is loving pictures of her passed love ones and the times they spent together, gratitude expressed for prayers and well wishes, and mostly silence.
The gun control debate needs happen by people who feel much more strongly about than I do. It absolutely does. But community and healing and love spreading needs to happen first. I wanted my friends and family to band together and take a moment of silence away from their own opinions to just be together as a community, to process what had happened, to make a proactive positive dent in the tragedy that had occurred. I was deeply disappointed.
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