Jay GreesonThe good people of Orlando -
America weeps with you and for you.
Those of us in Chattanooga know your pain more than most. Yes, your victim total was 10-fold ours - like your city is at least 10 times bigger than ours - but the wounds are just as deep and the pain just as real.
How could this happen is the first question and the one that is hardest to answer. It's one that will remain, long after CNN and Fox and the rest of the camera folks and sound-bite artists have left.
But questions are not the point of this letter. Experience is. We suffered through a homegrown extremist who killed our loved ones. It's impossible to expect, and it's something that comes without a playbook.
Here's what we have learned from the gaping wounds that still feel fresh to so many of us from July 16.
Take strength in each other, Orlando, regardless of your differences. It could have easily happened outside of Walt Disney World or a church or any other crowded group. The Chattanooga attacks happened at military facilities, so the most important adjective about the victims is that they were Americans.
Take pride in your response to this tragedy. Here in Chattanooga, we coined the phrase NoogaStrong, and it still elicits pride today. Maybe embrace OrlandoUnited or something that focuses on the great response of your uniformed first responders and the continued outpouring of support from your community and our country. Keep giving blood and keep supporting those in need; it helps the needy and the strong in a time when everyone needs some help.
Take a moment to remember this is an act of war. This is not a social commentary on the lifestyles of the dead. This is an attack on one of the jewel cities of the world's greatest country by a committed enemy who wants all of us dead.
And yes, that last one makes it even harder.
Sadly, the evil roll of the dice landed on the sun-splashed home of Mickey and Star Wars and all the wonderful things you offer. It's impossible not to ask why, but it's equally impossible to answer that question.
Almost 11 months later, we here in Chattanooga still wrestle with that question.
Here's the realization that comes almost a year later: The pain will diminish but it will never go away. The answers will come but they will feel somewhat unsatisfying. They have to, because there is no real way to completely and rationally describe the hatred that prompts these acts.
As we sit 32 days from this morning at the one-year anniversary of the July 16 attack here, take solace in each other and the celebrations and memorials of those who lost their precious lives.
Try to ignore the political spin too many will try to use your tragedy to exploit. The discussions of gun control and mental illness and immigration and the war on terror will still be there later. Right now, focus on each other and getting through the shock of realizing you are now part of the worst global fraternity imaginable.
You have paid tragic dues to the worst club of American cities around - the victims of terrorist acts on our own soil. Club membership has no prerequisite - size, location or demographics - other than they are American.
There is nothing, ultimately, you can hear that will alleviate the pain, confusion and sorrow.
Orlando, you are simply the next city to become part of this tragic group, and sadly, you probably won't be the last.
Your wounds are too fresh, Orlando, your pain still too sharp for perspective. Our wounds have healed, but our scars - and yours - will never go away.
Nor should they.
Contact staff writer Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6273.