Simple but meaningful pondering from Depeche Mode. That song was once my personal anthem, my comfort in middle school when I was verbally bullied all of the time. However, this isn’t about my inability to completely forgive the past, but rather, my disappointment and sadness about the present and possibly the future. I’ve been gone for a week, down in Orlando to be in Disney World with my best friends and their family. Sadly, this means I was a mere 25 minutes away from the tragedy that occurred this past weekend in which 49 innocent lives were taken away from us by a disgusting, hateful, pathetic excuse for a human being. It was the deadliest mass shooting in the United States, and it honestly felt so weird and surreal that this happened so close to where I was vacationing. It breaks my heart that these senseless shootings keep happening here, and that while racism and homophobia aren’t dead, I really thought that we as a country has made some serious strides, but evidently not. This was a massive hate crime against the LGBT community, and perhaps by coincidence (but honestly, probably not), the Latino community as well, considering it was Latino Night at Pulse that evening (in case you didn’t know, I am Latino/Hispanic myself). I know, I don’t mean to bring everyone down by dwelling on how awful and sad life can be…so here’s something you can do to help!

Two of my favorite artists that I follow on Instagram have both done artwork that they are selling to benefit the American Red Cross and the Human Rights Campaign.

Ashley Taylor has already sold out on the prints, which I was lucky enough to order beforehand. But she is still selling digital downloads of the rainbow Cinderella’s Castle (the one that’s at Disney World) and 100% of the profits are stilling going towards the American Cross.

Oh! And she is also selling digital prints of a rainbow-y Harry Potter World (because that is also in Orlando), and that looks like this:

The other print I just ordered is by an artist named Dylan Bonner, and he did this beautiful piece:

And all I had to do for that was email him my mailing address! I’m pretty sure he is using PayPal, but I haven’t received a confirmation email yet because I just placed the order minutes ago via email and I’m sure he’s busy going through all of the orders.

I want to do more, but I’m glad I’ve been able to support the healing of this tragedy through beautiful and heartfelt artwork.

*UPDATE* Maybe like two minutes after I published this post, I saw that BeepBoopBeepClothing is now selling this lovely tank that I’m about to order:

 

If you don’t buy any of these things, I honestly urge you to donate whatever you can to the American Red Cross, OneOrlando Fund, the Human Rights Campaign, and/or any other organizations that can help the victims’ families, the survivors and their families, and the LGBT community in general. We all need to rally together with love and support.

#loveislove #stopthehate #prayforOrlando