In the wake of a tragedy, such as the shooting that just shattered Las Vegas, feelings of anger surface. Feelings of confusion. Feelings of hopelessness. And somewhere under there too — feelings of unity.
When Stephen Paddock killed at least 59 people and wounded 500 something, he did not care who they were. He was not interested in their race or religion or sexual orientation — and in the most admirable, combative, defensive twist, the concert goers were not interested in who was who either, but rather the fact they were all human beings under attack.
Stories of people risking everything they had as shots sprayed from above continue to surface — instances of human compassion at a time when everyone’s own lives were on the line.
Concertgoer Todd Blyleven made it out of the concert safely and actually turned around and went back in, telling MSNBC, “I knew people were in danger, and I just needed to go back and help wherever I could.”
Jonathan Smith stayed to help roughly 30 people out of the venue before he was shot. He survived, but the bullet is still lodged in his neck, according to MSNBC.
Tom McIntosh was shot in the leg and began to bleed out. James Lawson, a complete stranger at the time, doubled back to use his belt as a makeshift tourniquet. Tom and James both survived.
Addison Short was shot in the leg when a stranger threw her over his shoulder and carried her to a taxi that took her to the hospital.
Lindsay Padgett and her fiancé Mark Jay both made it to their truck safely and then used it to drive as many people as they could to the hospital.
Although these are arbitrary names to those who might not know them, these are the names of people who saved lives. These are the names that will ring in the minds of those they saved forever. These are the names of people that looked terror in the face and challenged it.
And these are only a few of the stories. Many people stayed behind to apply pressure to bullet wounds and to get the injured to ambulances. Many incidents of strangers grabbing wandering and lost individuals and dragging them alongside them to get out have also been reported.
The universal concern for human life did not stop when the gunshots did.
At 2 a.m. following the attack, people were lined up to donate blood. Centers made it clear they weren’t opening until 7 a.m., but people stayed and waited. By 11 a.m. that day, wait times for blood donation stretched as long as three hours.
While the debate regarding gun control will continue on, the response from people living in Las Vegas and around the country is inarguable — and that’s something to think about.
Monday morning, many people lucky enough to have not been at the concert that night rolled over to read the horrifying headlines. And no one was concerned with political party or religion or sexual orientation. It was a mass loss of human life — American life — and left people aching to help, even if it meant standing in line for hours just to donate a pint of blood.
We’ve seen tragedy unify the country before. Stories like these surfaced with the Sandy Hook shooting, and again with the Boston Marathon bombing. While I hope there is a day it does not take the senseless loss of 59 lives to do so, it is inarguable that when news like this rolls out, everyone is simply American.
