Pulse

Pulse 

Pounding in the chest
Racing through the head
Quickening with the glimpse of a loved one
and the dancing buoyancy of freedom

Pounding in the chest
Racing through the head
Quickening with the shock of violence
and the sinking sensation of fear and vulnerability

Pounding in the chest
Racing through the head
Quickening with the disgusting taste of desecration
and the intense burning of injustice...again

Pounding in the chest
Racing through the head
Quickening with memories of the fallen ones
and the agonizing longing of lost love and elusive liberty

Pounding in the chest
Racing through the head
Quickening with the embrace of friends, the breath of a new day,
and the resilient surge of determination to go on living and loving

***

I wrote this piece the day after the shooting at Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida, and it continues to be a work in progress as I learn more and as I search my soul about what has happened and what is still happening. Tragedies like this leave us reeling and reaching for explanations. I know there is no easy or simple answer. Humans are complex creatures, and we have much to discover when it comes to living peacefully with each other.

Blaming it all on one person or one circumstance helps us gain our footing as we pretend to understand why it happened, but it's too simple to blame a lone gunman, gun control, religious extremism, or mental illness. These all seem to be important factors in this situation, but this is not the first time that LGBT people have been targeted and violated. This is not the first time that ANY group considered "different" than society's conventional standards has been threatened and harmed.

What is it that drives people to condemn, dehumanize, and destroy "the other" who we deem different from ourselves? I am left wondering if it is possible to change this "us verses them" paradigm that is ever in play among humans. I don't know, but I hope so. <3