Dear friends,
We join with those who are weeping, grieving for the victims of the shooting at Pulse Orlando. We send their families, loved ones and friends our love and our prayers, standing with them in solidarity.
We need to recognise that more hate will not solve the problem, but love. There will be those who would use this incident to fan Islamophobia. There will be those who make inappropriate remarks about LGBT people. Our response should not be even more hate that would divide us, but love. Fierce love that will not yield. Fierce love that will not give up hope. Fierce love that will strive harder to be peacemakers rather than hatemongers.
This is the time we need to shine. Let us be the light that shines in this dark moment. Martin Luther King Jr said “Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.”
This is the time we respond to hate, not with hate, but with love. Even though we are angry. Even though the tears are streaming down our faces. Even though we are afraid. We respond not with hate, but with fierce love. We would be bolder to love even the ones who hate us. We will not run back to hide back in our closets.
This is a time to love even more passionately, to love our families – no matter how hard, how difficult, no matter if they have accepted us or not, to love our friends, to love our enemies. Because only love can overcome hate.
miak