When Imagination and Reality Collide

As a writer, it is my job to imagine the worst scenarios imaginable, and depending upon the type of genre I am delving into, it is my solemn duty to do my best to pry into the darkest aspect of my fellow man. It is often  how the best plot lines are developed and the sharpest goosebumps are built. One creepy possibility at a time. But there is a point in which even my imagination has its limits.

Something will happen in the real world, and I will invariably find myself without  words to express the true darkness that exists there. A darkness that I simply cannot imagine is true. In a word, I can express what I mean…..

Orlando.

This weekend, 49 innocent lives were lost and dozens of other lives were shattered forever. A community was ripped apart in the wee hours of the morning leaving the entire nation asking the question WHY???

We can waste the time of debating this or that moral topic, pointing fingers here and there, but it all boils down to one person taking the life of another in a senseless act of violence.

Today my heart aches for the families of the victims. My heart aches for our country and what this may or may not mean for our future. My heart aches for the people who haven’t the compassion to weep for the fallen. My heart aches because the loss of a single soul diminishes us all.

A bit more of our innocence was lost to the tragedy in Orlando, and I hope as a nation we have the sense to come together in the face of it. This has rattled me because in a way I can’t imagine a world so cruel. What does it say for me as a writer that my heart and mind can’t go there? I don’t know. Maybe quite a lot if I can imagine a better, more beautiful place for us all.

God bless and keep the victims and the families of the Orlando shootings.