Two days ago was Valentine’s day: a day that also happens to be my mother’s birthday. I go to community college, and left after my last class at 7:05 to go meet her for dinner. The place was very crowded. All of the seats were taken and there was a line that almost went out the back of the restaurant. Already I knew service would be a bit slow, so I ordered and sat down expecting to wait a bit. Not a problem, I could just ask my mom how her day went and things like that.
In a moment of pure random, I just so happened to see one of the televisions in the restaurant and thus the worst news I’ve heard all week. It was something I’ve become uncomfortably numb to. Someone had gone into a Florida school and killed children. It was really something out of a movie it felt like. Here I was, innocently waiting for my dinner, and then I just so happen to look somewhere else in the room and am struck with the death of 17 people around my age. It’s something that is very sad, yet is so frequent the impact of it perhaps doesn’t hit as hard for a lot of us.
Something struck me this time, though. I wanted to become angry. Something inside me made me want to get up and yell at that TV. Looking back, I don’t know what I would have said. Maybe I’m upset that things like this happen and seemingly nothing is done about it. We just kind of let these things hit us, and then let them pass into history. It was then that I noticed the woman under that TV.
A woman was with her, what I presume to be, child and growing noticeably impatient waiting for her food. She told the waitress she ordered at 6:55. I sympathized with her. No one wants to wait over an hour for her food. I’ve worked in the food business before. Believe me, it’s not easy on the holidays. Still, I don’t blame her for being naturally upset about the wait. But, as I was sitting there, I couldn’t help but really put into reality the gravity of her situation. I mean, here she was, complaining that she couldn’t get something to eat as soon as she wanted, when right above her is a notice explaining that a gunman has taken down seventeen lives. Seventeen futures, potential families, and happy lives taken away in one day. I think that is why this shooting has affected me so much, or at least it did in that restaurant. It just seemed so surreal to even be upset over something as trivial as how long it took to receive a meal. Suddenly, everything became much more important to me.
Mass shootings are a tragedy. They create heartbreak, grief, and sadness. But I think things like these can really act well as a wake up call. I think maybe tragedy is a good indicator of how much we really take for granted people we meet every day. There are people out there who hold the door for me, smile at me, talk to me, and love me, and I love them. There is so much good that is out there, and it only takes bad news for people to forget that. I love the subreddit /r/humansbeingbros because it’s everything that every person on this Earth is capable of in the form of selflessness and compassion. There are only a select few of people who have the will to take an innocent life, but there are exponentially more of us who have the power to do good simply by giving your all to make someone else happy, which is the best thing we can do in times like these.
I beg of anyone who reads this. Forgive people, hug people, love people. When compared to life, dispute or disagreement seems miniscule. If you are upset with someone, look up at the sky and yell, or pick up a pillow and punch it, throw a lamp out a window or something, but send them nothing but forgiveness. It’s sometimes hard to mean it, I know, but releasing anger on someone doesn’t do you or the other person any other good.
This post is extremely unfocused and I realize that. I just kind of wanted to express how much I genuinely love to know people. We are all so different but yet we all behave in a way, for the most part, that creates a mutual respect between us all. No one you first meet will usually go out of their way to disrespect you, and I think taking that for granted is a huge mistake. When you really think about it, positive energy is around us all of the time. Something like a shooting can deceive us and tell us that everything good is gone, but it isn’t. Really, it brings us together. We all become one collection of mourning, and while it’s awful, we are still together. Isn’t it a bit encouraging?
Get motivated. Go out and hug your friends and tell them you love them. Say “I love you” to family you hold close when you get off the phone. It’s not a lot to ask, even less to do.
Some may think I’m naive thinking like this. Well, to that I’d say I’m only nineteen. I know I’m naive. I’m going to own it while it lasts.
Hope this motivated you at all. Love you all. Stay awesome.
Edit: formatting. Still can't get it the way I want it exactly but oh well.
Submitted February 16, 2018 at 10:47PM by The_Power_of_Pie http://ift.tt/2svSiFy
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