Imagine-a writing by a friend

byDaleMaz

1.4K followers

6 years ago

Hello everyone.

I just need a moment of your time.

Let me begin by saying that this is not about websites, technology, WA, or anything else pertaining to this platform. This is about a senseless tragedy that is taking place all to often.

This tragedy happened in Parkland, Florida on Tuesday afternoon. As students and faculty were preparing to leave school, a crazed gunman stopped them in their tracks. With a gun(s) in hand, he took the lives of seventeen (17) innocent people who were only going about their day as usual. This was a horrid act!!

Imagine, if you can, waking up in the morning, going about your usual routine. You get up, wipe the sleep out of your eyes and start your day. You don't have time to make your bed so you will do it when you get back home. You shower, dress, eat breakfast, take the dog out, all the things that you do every morning. You prepare to leave your home for work, school, an outing, whatever is on your agenda for the day. You kiss your kids, mom, dad, grandparents, brothers, sisters, the dog. You say "goodbye" and say you will see everyone later this evening. These are words and movements that you make every day of you life. There is nothing unusual about this day.

Fast forward...6 hours later you are preparing to finish your day and return home to make good on your promise to do your chores that you didn't have time to do that morning, shampoo the dog, and get ready for the evening with family and friends. Just another day.

BANG, BANG, BANG...gunshots are ringing in your ears. This is not a normal part of your day. Where is this coming from, who is doing this, you run for cover! Unfortunately, you don't make it. There is searing pain as a bullet pierces your body and the blood begins to flow. The pain is excruciating as the life flows out of you like a river. This is not a part of your normal day.

Seventeen (17) children and adults did not return home that day and never will. Their lives were taken by a crazed gunman because he had been kicked out of this school and many others. But he chose this school to make his statement. Lives were lost for no reason other that someone was mad at the system. So senseless!!!!!

I cannot imagine the pain and the shock that these people left behind are going through. Their days will never be normal again. No one is coming home to make their bed or do anything ever again. How do you handle this!?!?!

Can anyone reading this even imagine the fear that these people experienced? The screams of terror or the prayers for mercy? Can you imagine lying there bleeding and knowing that you will go home again? Can you imagine the shock of those that are watching in desperation and wondering if they are next? Can you imagine...

I can't. I can only pray and cry for the lives that were lost, the damage done mentally to those experiencing this, and the ones left behind to find some meaning in this horrible aftermath of chaos. I can't imagine the pain that these innocent people are going through. The questions that they must have and emptiness that will never again be filled.

Beds will remain unmade, clothes will stay on the floor, closet doors will stand open and the house will never be the same. If only that morning had started differently, maybe lives would have been spared and the day would have ended as usual. But it didn't. Everything was normal, par for the course. Nothing will ever be normal again.

I wonder if this idiot even stopped to think that not only would this change his life forever but it would change and destroy the lives of everyone that this tragedy has touched. Even people like myself who are mourning the deaths of those that we never knew and never will. This idiot put a stop to anything in their futures. I can't imagine what went through his mind. He was and is a psycho. I can't imagine...

This has touched me in a way that I cannot explain with words. My words usually set me free and let me deal with all the madness in my life and the world. But not this time. I feel a sense of fear and restlessness as I hear children saying to their parents that they are afraid to go to school. They don't want a man with a gun to come to their school and hurt them. These are young children that are full of fear and anxiety. What is this world coming to?!?!?

My son is an administrator in a local junior high. Maybe this is where my fear comes from. I know that he would put his life on the line for any student or faculty member at his school. I can't imagine getting a phone call to tell me that he gave his life to save another. I want him to quit his job and find another position where he is not a sitting duck for an irate student, parent, or just someone that wakes up one morning and decides to go shoot up a school and kill a few people. And that is exactly how it happens.

A normal morning, a normal day. Then all hell breaks loose and changes our lives forever. Can you imagine...

I realize that this post was a bit graphic and dark. But I felt that I had to say something. This in no way helps or fixes the situation, it's just me venting and screaming silently to the masses that this has to come to an end. I have no answer and an 'end' result in mind. But this must stop. The madness must come to an end now, today. Tomorrow will be too late.

Thanks for taking the time to read this post and hopefully you came out of this with a new understanding of the senselessness of these kinds of horrific acts. There has to be a way to put a stop to this. If you have any ideas, feel free to comment.

Before closing, I would like to ask that you keep Florida in your mind and prayers. Ask that this will never happen again and the hate will go away. Ask that love and peace replace the anger and turmoil.