Go Forth & Be Fabulous
Go Forth and Be Fabulous
As I sat in church this morning (yes, its something I do), I was contemplating the theme of this week’s sermon: mercy.  My mind has been weighing heavy with the recent murder suicides that have taken place – first at UCLA and then over the weekend when the young singer Christina Grimmie was slain while signing autographs after her show.
I was reviewing the news feed on my phone when I saw updates about Orlando. I had assumed that it was more about the shocking death of the singer, until I realized it was a mass shooting. What shocked me most was the response of our potential future president Donald Trump, leaking the news that it was potentially an ISIS related attack.  My sadness immediately went towards anger at Donald Trump – for trying to use this tragedy to incite fear and to fuel his campaign. Â
At the end of the day, it’s not one thing that can solve this problem of mass violence.  As much as it would be easy as to write it off to the need of gun control, the access to weapons is unfortunately a symptom of a much larger problem. Instead of restricting access, why not look at the reasons why these individuals took the extreme measure of acquiring and using their weapons of choice.
In the case of the UCLA murder, it appears that this person was under extreme duress for a long period of time. Â Who knows what led to Mainak Sarkar to snap and kill 2 people before killing himself. Who knows what led to Kevin Loibl to kill Christina Grimmie after she went to hug him. Â Who knows what led to the person opening fire and killing so many this morning. Â What I do know is healthy, well-balanced people do not go around picking up guns and acting on instinctual urges. Â If anything, these people are so lost, so disconnected, that they killed others with their pain. Â
By eradicating the stigma of mental wellness and making mental health care services more readily available to the masses, we could have prevented so much loss and pain and grief that we are now experiencing.
In 2013, I met a lovely lady in Paris who shared with me her theory that we are all interconnected. We were talking about suicide, and she felt that when somebody takes his or her life, a piece of us dies. Â As evident by the way these shootings are affecting us, this feeling can be extended to senseless tragedies.
In order to heal, and in order to prevent future tragedies, we need to look and adjust our views on mental wellness. Â We need to help those in need. Instead of raising fear and hate, we should be showering those around us with love and compassion. Â
You end hunger through nourishment, not starvation. You end insomnia with sleep, not pulling all-nighters. You end war with peace, not conflict. Stop hate with love. Stop fear with strength. Â
If for some reason, I wound up being on the other side of random violence, I sincerely doubt my last thought would be about revenge. My thoughts would be about the love I feel for my people. Â I would be heartbroken about leaving them, and heartbroken over the pain they would feel with losing me. Â My last hope would be for them not to give in to fear or anger, but to fall into forgiveness. I would pray that they would practice empathy and self-care. Â My hope is that they would heal quickly and live full and fabulous lives.
We are all in this crazy life together.  So go forth, and be fabulous, and not give into the fear these events can inspire. Go forth and be fabulous for those who have lost their lives to mental illness. Go forth and be fabulous in their honor. By practicing compassion, and hope, we can work to help others transcend their pain, and prevent future senseless tragedies from occurring. Â
