A little more we can do, a little more I will do

If you have seven minutes to spare, watch Anderson Cooper's moving tribute to the Orlando shooting victims.



It's worth your time because one thing we can do in every such case is remind ourselves and everyone around us that the victims were real people with lives and dreams and hopes, not merely statistics in another senseless tragedy.

We can also stop tolerating anything that dehumanizes or otherwise diminishes others simply because of their gender, race, religious beliefs, sexuality, or any other distinction that people so often use to treat people as less than equal.

I've sat silent while people around me made jokes or disparaging remarks about something being gay or about stereotypes that diminish whole groups of people.  No more.  I was wrong to be quiet before.  If you say such things around me, expect me to argue with you about it or, if I believe that is pointless, to simply point out how offensive it is and to leave.

It's a small thing to do, but it's something.  We need to find a lot of small things to do even as we battle for the bigger things, such as making laws that protect all of us and electing candidates who want to represent all of us, that take a long time.