Orlando tragedy: Teachings of hate to blame

Some of us awoke early Sunday to mow the lawn. Others wanted to clean the grill after the high school graduation party. Still others dressed and went to church services. Each of us had distinctly different items on the agenda. But all had one thing in common - we awoke to shocking news of the worst mass shooting in American history and worst terror attack since 9/11.

It was a slaughter of epic proportions, at least 50 killed and 53 injured when, police say, Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old religious radical, invaded an Orlando nightclub, opened fire, killed scores and took hostages.

The one-man sacrilege stunned the country.

And there really was no reason for it to happen. It was to be a night of harmless fun at the club, said attendees, a gathering of young adults of alternative lifestyles. The theme was Latin night.

But for Mateen, a Florida security officer and Islamic militant, it was hate night.

Mateen reportedly drove two hours to the Pulse nightclub intent on murdering as many as possible. It ended only when he was killed by police who stormed the facility to save 20 or 30 hostages. Mateen was found carrying an assault weapon, a handgun and two suspicious devices. Cops did a tremendous job but, sadly, help came too late for more than 100 dead and injured.

Why does this type of horror happen?

"This has nothing to do with religion," said Mateen's father, when questioned.

Police aren't so sure. They're already classifying the tragedy as a combination of terrorism and hate crime.

What is known about Mateen is he was an American citizen of Afghan parents. Those who knew him describe him as divorced, hot tempered and a wife beater. He was already on an FBI watch list.

It's perplexing to think that somebody on an FBI terrorism watch list can equip himself with an assault rifle. Plus, he worked as a security guard. How that happens is anybody's guess, but let's hope Homeland Security can figure it out.

It's also challenging to imagine how one person can acquire so much hate for total strangers.

Mateen was a Muslim. Clearly, religion failed him. Or maybe he failed religion. Either way, Mateen killed innocents in order to honor his favorite deity.

But it seems there's a larger issue at play.

There's a serious mental health problem in this country and the world. It shows itself as a personality disorder in which a person's goals are driven by dislike of fellow man. It's manifested by those who believe they need to commit slaughter to honor a god.

It's ancient. It's barbaric. And it's the same evil mentality that brought down the World Trade Center, killing 2,996 and wounding 6,000.

The staggering death toll attributed to misguided nutjobs like Mateen and his ilk gives rise to the bumper-sticker maxim: "If your religion requires you to kill, please start with yourself."

Early Sunday, one mother stood outside of the night club and cried as she talked with media. Eight hours after the shootings, she still hadn't heard from her son. She didn't want to accept the inevitable - that he likely was among the deceased.

"Let's start getting along," she told reporters, wiping away tears. "We're only here for such a short time. Let's get rid of the hatred."

She's right. But for the world to get rid of hate, those occupying the planet need to make a conscious decision to remove themselves from evil.

Nelson Mandela, South Africa's anti-apartheid revolutionary, once said: "Nobody is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion. People learn to hate. And if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than the opposite."

Crazed shooter Omar Mateen was taught to hate, just like members of ISIS, and more than 100 innocent people paid the price.

By Donald R. Serfass | dserfass@tnonline.com