Horrified.
Disgusted.
Worried.
I drafted this post last night shortly after reading the news of a “mass casualty situation” in Indianapolis. We now know that eight people were killed and many more injured in yet another mass shooting. We also know the gunman killed himself. An author I follow on Twitter posted that her dad works at the facility where the shooting occurred. He is safe, but honestly, can you even imagine the terror of that scenario? I’m horrified and I’m only reading about it.
CNN’s article this morning says this is now “the country’s most deadliest shooting since 10 people were killed March 22 at a grocery store in Colorado.” That was less than a month ago. This is not the kind of normal I was hoping we would return to when the pandemic eased up.
My goodness.
This is an ugly world, y’all, and it feels like it’s getting worse. The number of mass shootings in the last few weeks is astounding. So many lives lost, so many others left in a state of trauma, so much sadness.
And then there’s the ongoing killing of Black people by police. I don’t understand any of it. It truly feels like police have been given a directive to kill young Black men. And I know that’s absurd, at least I’m pretty sure it is, but wow. And of course there are some incredible police officers out there, but it sure doesn’t feel like there are a lot of them most days. It feels like the bad far outweigh the good. I have friends with young Black sons who are terrified to let their kids leave the house. And who can blame them? After what happened in Minnesota earlier this week, then the video footage of the child killed in Chicago, and the George Floyd trial, and still no justice for Breonna Taylor, and on and on and on. At what point do the good police stand up and say they’ve had enough? We’ve seen some of that but not nearly enough. At what point is there a national response that changes the way the whole system works? Enough was enough years ago. We are so far beyond enough is enough that I can’t even see it in the rear view mirror.
And of course we’re still seeing hate crimes being committed against the Asian community. That hasn’t stopped because other things are happening, even though it’s not the top news story right now. It’s definitely still happening. I want to say I’m exhausted but then I think of my Black and Asian friends and realize that my level of exhaustion is nothing compared to theirs. I’m at a loss of what to do. I try to speak up as much as I can. I donate to groups doing the work. I read, I watch, I listen, I learn. But it doesn't feel like it’s even close to enough. I don’t know, y’all. I just don’t know.
One of my favorite bands is Coldplay. In fact, I used one of their songs as my song of the day yesterday. But I’m linking another one of theirs as my song of the day today because it feels so relevant. Fair warning, it contains some strong language.
But because it is Friday and I don’t want to end this blog on such a dark note, here’s one of my favorite Coldplay songs in video form. I hope it brings you some joy in these dark times.