A Heavy Heart...

There are some people that are able to go about their lives as usual even when the vilest thing has just happened. I envy such people. In the wake of the recent tragedy (and this is putting it mildly) that happened in Charleston, it's a wonder how some people are able to act like nothing happened and just move on with their lives. I, on the other hand, have been filled with lots of rage. My rage is stemmed from the ugly fact that we have had to feel these things too many times.

We can't walk home with our hoodies on.

We can't sell loose cigarettes.

We can't have pool parties in peace.

And now, we can't even go to church again.

Church???

The safe haven.

That was the extent of this hatred; that a young man would deliberately walk into a church, and commit such a hideous act is still beyond me.  You know what scares me even more, this would not be the last. A deranged, racist, thug who gets a hold of a gun and kills people. Tell me that's not awfully familiar. Yet, in the words of President Obama, these unfortunate incidences do not happen in other developed countries. What kind of a person buys their child a gun on his birthday? Anyway, that's like crying over already spilled milk. The young man stripped some people of their joy and sunshine, and has cast an umbrella of darkness and gloom over an entire nation.
I am angry with the media too. Because when a black person is involved in a crime, they are quick to paint him a thug. As if the word thug is color specific. I saw a headline describe the perpetrator as "someone who apart from (a different crime and the current one)has no other crime" or something that silly. After he got arrested, I did not understand the fuss over the arrest. So what if he has been arrested? Does that erase the hate in his heart? Or in millions of other hearts out there?

I heard that a family member of one of the victims said he has forgiven the perpetrator. Love. That can only be the response. We can strive hard to not let anyone bring us so low that we hate them. So, the response should be love. Love and hope. Love, because time and time again, Christ taught us to love no matter what. Hope, because how else can we live in a world filled with despicable people?

I pray for those who lost their lives on that ill-fated day in South Carolina.

I pray for the families they left behind.

I pray that none of the rest of us has to ever go through such calamity.

I pray for justice.

Love, and some hope,

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