When you blame all Muslims for the actions of Islamic extremists, you support ISIS.
When you advocate for more guns, you entrench the broken trust in our society.
When you wish rape on a rapist, you condone rape as valid.
Regardless of if you really mean it, the internet just carries your words, and you don’t get to choose how they’ll be interpreted, or who will hear them.
The shooter in Orlando grew up in the United States. He has lived here while it was made increasingly clear after the terrorist attacks of Sept 11, 2001 that Muslims are different, separate, violent, and unwelcome. He lived here while the Westboro Baptist Church made waves with their protests, while the entire country debated whether or not homosexual people were equally entitled to the same rights as heterosexuals. He lived here while abortion clinics and the doctors who worked there were violently attacked. He lived here through mass shootings, individual killings, extended discussions of their motivations, and thousands of people talking about the horrible things they would do or wished done to the perpetrators of these crimes.
He lived here while a lot of decent people gave voice and motion to a desire to literally take up arms to defend themselves and their values.
He said he is a follower of ISIS, but ISIS doesn’t exist alone. It was not the only influence in his life. Perhaps it filled a void left by a country which has made it clear that he’s an outsider. Perhaps he genuinely felt it’s avowed principles were right, and decided, like the shooter at the Colorado Planned Parenthood, that he could make the world a better place. Perhaps he was just an angry, unstable man with ample access to firearms.
Anger is OK. Anger is a valid emotion. Anger is not the only emotion, nor is it a wise guide, particularly when harnessed with it’s partner Fear. They are very powerful in tandem, with strong, clear voices as to what should be done, but no matter how articulately they declaim, they are not worthy leaders. Moral Courage stands against them. It pulls against the riptide that is Anger and Fear’s goal of pulling society down into mistrust. Moral Courage looks at the problem with clear eyes, even looking inward, to find solutions that are more than extensions of the original problem.
Popular opinion is against it, the media, even its own emotions, but then, that is exactly where true courage is most evident.
Whose side are you on? Anger and Fear, with their raw immediate emotion or Moral Courage, with it's coolheaded plan for an improved tomorrow?
