Enough Song Titles

That was fun, and I could go on with it forever -- I started out trying to stick with it for a month, and it's been more than twice that long -- but today it's too hard to come up with something. I thought about using "Dirty Laundry" or "Comfortably Numb" or "Try a Little Tenderness" or "Put a Little Love in Your Heart". None seemed right, so it was a good time to stop.

I do feel numb, but not comfortably so. I'm sure many people in Florida and perhaps the entire country feel the same way. I didn't think until this morning about two things related to the tragedy: the ringing phones on the dead bodies and how horrible that must have been for the first responders, and the fact that one of my friends is a trauma surgeon at the nearest hospital to the nightclub and what that surge of horrendous injuries must have been like for him and his staff. There are so many ripples in an event like this that aren't obvious at first, which is probably as it should be. At first we are so shocked and saddened that all we can think about is the senselessness of it. It's only later that we begin to recognize the profound and lasting effect this has on a community -- in the sense of both the city (which will forever be identified by this incident) and the people who live there.

Another thing I didn't think about until later last night was that I have a new respect for our local newspeople. It's easy to make fun of news teams in small markets, especially when you grew up in a national or perhaps even international news market. I am guilty of having laughed at the amatuer nature of our local news reports. Now, though, I am proud of the way our local news handled the tragedy, with compassion and integrity. When I watched national news later, I saw how the event was being politicized and sensationalized -- as if something so awful needs to be sensationalized. Not once did our local news teams do any of that. On occasion, the local anchors teared up as they shared the details; of course, they were passing them along as soon as they heard them, not having time to process the information or control their emotions. It was touching, and it made them seem human -- definitely something that was missing from most of the national coverage I saw.

My son who lives near the club where the incident took place seemed curiously disinterested in the details. When I talked with him on the phone yesterday morning, he was heading out with a friend. I was updating him on what roads were closed and what was going on at that point. Maybe when you're that close to it, you have to find a way to gain some distance. I'm not going to tell him how he should or shouldn't feel. And I'm not going to think too hard about how I should or shouldn't feel. Some events just take some time to work into your life, into your reality. When it's something this jarring, it seems only natural that it would take a while.