Some things are just senseless. Some things contain sadness and disaster and tragedy that words cannot convey. Some things go beyond our ability to comprehend. When someone walks into a nightclub and opens fire on defenseless people, that’s senseless. When members of the Latino and LGBT communities are slaughtered, that’s senseless. It’s incomprehensible. It’s morally bankrupt. It’s evil.
When I saw that my hometown of Orlando was the victim of the largest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, I was struck with sadness, confusion and grief for the city as well as the communities that were attacked.
The lives of these sons and daughters, boyfriends and girlfriends, friends and families were all cut short by a cowardly act of groundless violence. Families were robbed. Best friends were stripped. Romantic partnerships were broken.
Such sadness is impossible to convey through words alone. The heartbreak, that sinking feeling cannot be communicated through words alone.
But I was proud to be from Orlando that day. Witnessing hundreds gathered in solidarity, lining up to donate blood—that’s an amazing thing. People rallying to support each other, their loved ones and the targeted groups—that’s how “community” is defined.
As strong as the response in Orlando was, the response from the country at large was troubling. In an unfortunate display of politicization and polarization, the Orlando shooting was distinct in the speed at which masses of politicians, organizations and individuals rushed to politicize the tragedy.
In a time of heightened political and social tensions, political institutions rushed to support competing narratives that developed just hours after the attack, well before the facts were collected and adequately examined. Donald Trump accepted congratulations for being “right” about the killing. Congressmen and senators promoted narratives that made no mention of our LGBT brothers and sisters. The fact that this tragedy devastated mis hermanos y hermanas in the Latino community was overlooked. Gun control lobbyists rushed to make this about guns, and gun lobbyists rushed to make this about anything but guns.
Different interest groups used this tragedy as an opportunity to build or defend political capital. And that’s heartbreaking.
When we rush to immediately politicize a tragedy, we are detached from our humanity and our innately human reactions. Tragedy isn’t a contest of moral outrage or political supremacy; it’s tragedy.
Yes, tragedy should breed positive political and social action, but it should be preceded by a complete reaction. It is okay to just react to senseless violence with sadness, anger, grief or confusion. Politics can wait. Being human is a powerful thing; it confronts the inhumane and “bankrupt” ideology of violence and terrorism. There’s no room for an agenda on a day when humanity was demolished on such a scale.
The shooting in Orlando brings all kinds of policy implications to the forefront. We can do better, and we should do better. But part of being better is being observant, first.
And when tragedy strikes again, though we hope it doesn’t, let us fall quiet in solidarity with the victims and their families, if but for a day. For if there is grief in the night, the least we can do is leave politics for the morning.
David Wohlever Sánchez is a Trinity sophomore.
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