Anger. Fear. Disappointment. Concern. Care. Kindness. Revenge.
GRIEF. GRIEF. GRIEF.
It’s a rough word….its not one we do well. How do we grieve? Do we tell the world we are strong and we will survive? (We will.) Do we rise up and make our political voices heard? (We will.) Do we raise money and raise awareness? (We will!)
Do we hug our neighbors, hold their hands and cry together….WE MUST!
Dayton has had her share, no, MORE than her share of tribulations of late. Tornados, KKK…and now a mindless, stupid shooting. You can feel the tightness of the community, being stretched to the limit. Will we break? (We won’t.) It’s in us to move forward, together. WE ARE A FAMILY. Think about that…we are a FAMILY! A family made of all colors, all genders, all religions, all views & all LOVES! Dayton=Love! And despite the attempts of many, LOVE CONTINUES TO WIN IN OUR CITY!
Know these names…THEY ARE OUR FAMILY…Lois L. Oglesby, Saeed Saleh, Derrick R. Fudge, Logan Turner, Megan Betts, Nicholas P. Cumer, Thomas J. McNichols, Beatrice N. Warren-Curtis & Monica E. Brickhouse.
They were enjoying OUR CITY. OUR VIBE, OUR LOVE. As we move forward together, we must continue where they cannot. We have to take the time to grieve, not immediately push these feelings aside. They are in us for a reason. To make us move forward together. To remind us of them…those in our family, now gone.
Today we see a world where what we believed to be true, isn’t. We see a trust that is broken. We see a time when what was clear is now murky. The only cure is grieving…..GRIEF makes us resilient. It creates a strength unlike any other we will know. It makes us lean into our brothers and sisters for support. It takes us to a place of seeing we cannot succeed alone as well as we can with our FAMILY!
We cannot bring them back. We can’t. Hardest lesson to accept. We cannot erase what has happened to us…our FAMILY. We cannot reason with irrational. But, we can do the one thing we have the power to do today, tomorrow and for our days ahead….we can LIVE our LIVES in hopes of making the FUTURE of this FAMILY, of our Beloved DAYTON better…..and brighter. God Bless all of them and their loved ones. Never, never forget, but together let’s move forward! WE ARE DAYTON…..and DAYTON=LOVE!
