"No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." -Excerpt from John Donne's Devotions on Emergent Occasions, Meditation 17.


Within a few mere hours of tragedy, fingers are pointing. We know who did this, and yet so few fingers point that way. Perhaps that's right. But it is definitely wrong to use the lives of the fifty dead, the fifty-three wounded, and all the rest affected by this tragedy as fuel for a political engine. This is not politics. This is not the fault of corrupt government, nor lax gun laws. This is not the fault of understaffed agencies or view-hungry media. This is the result of a man who made bad choices and allowed himself to be swayed to horrible action. Pointing fingers anywhere else is not productive right now. It only creates rifts that tear us apart.

We humans have suffered through tragedy in the past, and proven ourselves stronger than it. Most of us here have seen more than our share, as members of the LGBT+ community, as furries, as minorities and freaks spread all over the world. Some of us learn that it's never about who did what. It's about who is in need. And that's somewhere near the core of what it is to be furry these days. We aren't alone. We know that, we built all our websites, our cons, our events just to be together. And when solace can't be found from the outside, it can be found here. That's part of what makes furry communities so excellent, that's part of why those who find themselves here find it easy to stay.

Never again do I want to hear who used what weapon to do what. All I want to know is who needs me, and I'll be there. If this event is to effect change, let that change be a unification, an increase in charity, service, and volunteering, a building of community. Don't let this divide us. If a single clod makes Europe the less, a chasm that splits communities shatters the continent entirely. In enhancing these divides, we attack our own coasts with digging machines and throw our land out to sea.

Don't make this about politics. It isn't, and it never was. It's about people.