A Moment In Memory

How do you reconcile murder wrought of bigotry knowing that a person, someone's loved one, has been killed simply because someone else felt that they did not deserve to live simply because of who they were? How do you reconcile the murder of over 179 people, just in the last year. How can you come to terms with the fact that many more never came to our attention? How do you come to terms with the loss of the many more who's lives were so filled with hatred and violence towards them that they chose to end their own life rather than bear the burden of bigotry? How can you comprehend the loss they have left in their wake?

How can one begin to wrap their mind around the hatred that is so intense and poignant that it could result in such violence and tragedy? How can one have faith in humanity knowing that these crimes were done deliberately?

How is this acceptable? How is this understandable?

How can we reconcile the fact that we live in a society where our very identities are stripped from us after death by the police, by the media, and sometimes by our own families? How can we reconcile the fact that this is seen as acceptable and proper? How can we come to terms with a culture where not only are our bodies fit to slaughter but our memories fit to burn?

Nothing we can do can erase the violence and bring those who have been lost to us back to life. Yet, we can fight to make sure they are remembered, as best we can, for the people they were. We owe them this.

Please, take a moment to read the names of those who have died and to pay tribute, as best you can, to their memory.

May their memory cast the seeds of love in their absence.