We Will Not Lose Our Pulse

Someone tried to take our Pulse away.

They thought they could send us a message about what was acceptable.  They thought they could divide us and leave us weaker.  They thought that hate was stronger than love.

Is it?

What we decide to do in this moment of crisis may determine the fate of us all.

Do we react in hate or in love?

It is so easy to use the holy books, be it the Bible or the Koran or any others, to justify hate, intolerance and revenge.  All you have to do is ignore the forest of the true faith, and cherry pick the trees that support the evil you are trying to perpetuate.  Want to hate and discriminate against the LGBT community?  You can find verses to convolute to do that.  Want to justify male dominance and keeping women and children as chattel, even to the point of beating them into submission?  It's in there.  Want to make a case for slavery?  It's in there.  Want to genocide your foes?  It's in there.

These books were written over long periods of time, and then rewritten by diverse scribes and many rulers, all with their own purpose and intent.

You can carry off the trees you want to bolster your fortress of hate if you want to.  But you have to ignore the forest of the true faith to do that.  All great religions are not a fixed point.  They are a journey to true understanding.  Love God, love your neighbor, make the world a better place.  That is what you see when you look at the forest as a whole.

Don't let them take the trees away that justify the destruction of humanity's Pulse.  Let's not let them build their wooden intolerant kingdom made from the disparate poisonous branches, while burning down the spirit of the forest of faith, love, hope and tolerance that could save us all.

I weep for the lost souls of the Pulse.  I cry for their friends and families, and I pray for Orlando and this whole nation.  I grieve for the world where such evil still thrives.

I try not to despair.  I look about and I see many who seek the forest, who strive for its guidance. They give blood.  They help rebuild.  They reach out in love.  They embrace their fellow man. There is still comfort even in the heart of chaos.

Someone tried to burn the forest of true faith away.

Someone tried to take the Pulse of humanity away.

We won't let them.

Will we?