Aurora Batman Shooting: I'm Not Scared, I'm Angry
In memoriam of the people who died in Aurora, Colorado on July 20th, 2012.
This is a difficult column for me to write because just like the people in Aurora, CO after midnight on July 20th I was at a midnight showing for the wide premiere of The Dark Knight Rises. Unlike the seventy moviegoers who were shot twelve of them fatally, I was able to watch and enjoy the movie in relative peace without some person, who will not get any publicity in this piece by having his name spoken, open fire on me because he planned to have a bad day. This is difficult for me to write because even over a week later I shake with anger when I think about how senseless what happened was. Twelve people including a little girl not even seven years old murdered for no reason. Twelve people murdered and fifty-eight others injured just because they wanted to enjoy themselves watching a hero who doesnt even use guns. Somethings just not right there. Trite as it sounds, bad things happen in life. Since the Aurora tragedy, Ive read the calls for measures to enact tougher gun laws, beefed up security at public venues, and the ban of violent movies and video games. Ive read the same things by some of the same pundits after previous tragedies like this just as Im certain I will again if and when something similar happens in the future. I have very strong opinions about what I think should be done in the wake of this shooting tragedy but this isnt the forum in which I want to have that debate. I dont want to do that because now isnt that time for me. I want this time to acknowledge the victims of this outrage, several of whom were injured or died because they responded like real heroes by keeping their heads to help others when the bullets started flying. Victims who showed heroism like Alexander C. Teves, studying to be a physical therapist, and Jonathan Blunk, a veteran of the US Navy, who both died shielding their girlfriends from the shots. A truly innocent bystander named Veronica Moser-Sullivan, six years old, who Ill say was too young to have experienced something so tragically senseless; so young that her mother, Ashley, severely injured in the shooting so badly that at the time of this writing she had not been informed of her daughters death. Jessica Ghawi, 24 years old, who had survived a shooting in a Toronto mall only weeks earlier only to be shot down in another public place in another country showing that gun violence isnt contained by national borders. My sympathies go out to the dead and the injured but I have no fear to waste worrying about people like the architect of this tragedy. My fear is reserved for things in life like the perils my young son will have to navigate in this world. Common fears like keeping a roof over our heads and food in the fridge. The fear that I will never be the writer I strive to be or that I wont reach the goals Ive set for myself before I exit this life. I cant, I wont, and I refuse to be afraid of a nutcase with a gun who did not have the strength of character to overcome his own issues and thought his problems were larger than other individuals lives. No, people like that can only get my pity and anger. Pity that they never seem to get the help they clearly need and anger that its too damn easy in my home country for them to get weapons to harm others. People like Teves and Blunk werent scared and I owe it to them, my son, and myself to stand up if and when circumstances call for me to show courage in the face of terror. The Dark Knight, Batman, has always been an inspiration for me but hes a fictional character. The people who laid their bodies and their lives down for others in Aurora, CO are proof true heroes walk among us without a billion dollar trust fund or a souped-up motorcycle. IN MEMORIAM OF THE PEOPLE WHO DIED IN AURORA, CO ON JULY 20, 2012 Micayla Medek Alex Sullivan Matthew McQuinn John Larimer Jesse Childress Alexander J. Boik Jonathan Blunk Rebecca Ann Wingo Alexander C. Teves Jessica Ghawi Gordon Cowder Veronica Moser-Sullivan