Last week’s shooting at a gay club in Orlando, Florida reverberated throughout the world and the URI community. We live in a time where information is power, and power is at our fingertips, 24/7, opinion melded with fact. Almost immediately, grief was put into boxes, whole communities of people preparing for pointed fingers, details about the shooter making us gasp and whisper more than the 50 people who lost their lives for no discernible reason but misguided hate.
Peace is more than just the absence of violence. Whatever toxic mix of hatreds was at play here, they have touched millions who are already so often victims of prejudice-based violence or discrimination. The LGBTQI, Latinx, and Muslim communities are not homogeneous blocs, easy targets for blame or stereotypes. Like you and I, they come in all colors, backgrounds, opinions, and experiences. These moments of tragedy should inspire us to grieve those we have lost, but also to review our own perceptions, recognize that the barriers we let divide us fall away when it counts, and join together in our humanity.
URI changemakers all around the world work daily to see beyond barriers of identity, religion, and "otherness" for a more equal, peaceful world. They are extraordinary in their ordinariness, building bridges of understanding one person and community at a time through simple acts of togetherness and dialogue between people of different beliefs and perspectives for issues that touch us all. Hate always starts small, casually, but so does peace.
To read messages of condolence from the global URI family, go here.
URI North America offers some words on the importance of grieving together here.
URI Multiregion Global Council Trustee Audri Scott Williams reflects on the shooting here.
