This testimonial of love and acceptance between two friends is sweeping social media, yet few have heard it—until now.
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Since the beginning of time, man has known that the sun rises and sets at a certain time of the day. It lets him know when to close his eyes and rest, and when to wake up and be alive. Some say it’s due to science. Others claim it’s just nature—and then there are those who are unsure of this or anything else unless they see proof.
Science and theories aside, I think there’s something real and beautiful about knowing certain things happen at certain times—or certain objects are in certain places when my day begins and ends. It’s an absolute that I need in my life more than I’m willing to admit, but I also know that absolutes are not always promises because they can be taken away or broken too easily. So when I read the story of a man simply known as Gabe—who Upworthy.com contributor Robbie Coach describes as “a staffer for Rep. Gabby Giffords”—and Amanda, one of Gabe’s employees, my heart skipped an uneasy beat.
According to the May 12 article, Gabe was working at a community event known as “Congress on Your Corner” in Arizona on January 8, 2011, as he was known to do whenever and wherever he could. The day before, Amanda called him and asked what time she should report to work. He declined her request to come into work on a Saturday, saying he had that day’s event well in hand. Amanda hung up, but before she did, she said, “Today must be my lucky day!”–to which he replied, “Yes it is.”
The events that transpired just 24 hours after that phone call led to tragedy. Gabe was murdered in a six-person shooting, in a grocery store during the event he told Amanda not to come to. 13 others were seriously injured. However, the Upworthy.com article also reports that Gabe and Amanda shared a strong bond—–a friendship that stood the test of time and eventually led to mutual understanding and love.
In the video above, Amanda recounts the moment her boss, best friend and confidante was killed:
“I got in my truck. I raced to the scene, [and] I made my way to the yellow police tape just as the last ambulance was [passing]—and just beyond the tape, I saw my friend.”
She continues her story, pausing in between every sentence:
“[He] was covered in a white butcher’s cloth that someone had grabbed from the meat market. I wanted so much to hold him—to tell him that I love him, that he means the world to me,” she says. “And I couldn’t.”
Some time had passed before Amanda went back to the grocery store where Gabe was murdered. It was there that she stumbled upon a memorial of flowers and memories of the six victims who died and 13 who were injured in the shooting. She quietly asked the question, “Gabe, what do you make of all this—all this love, for you and for everybody?”
She gives a surreal response as to what happens next.
“My head was immediately drawn down between my cowboy boots, where I saw this tiny, rectangular piece of paper,” she says. “And I picked it up and it was a fortune from a fortune cookie. And it said, ‘You are often unaware of the effect you have on others. It felt like a communication with Gabe, that I took to mean, ‘Amanda, I had no idea I impacted so many people and I was so loved. And Amanda, you have no idea how you impact and affect people, and how loved you are.’ … All of us are often unaware of the affect we have on others, and it shouldn’t take tragedy for us to let one another know that … to say ‘thank you,’ and ‘I love you.”
It seems cliché, but how many people have to die before humanity truly embraces this message? While it’s not mentioned in the video, the shooting that killed Gabe and those five other people happened on the very same day that Gabby Giffords was also shot and nearly lost her life. In many ways, Giffords’ shooting overshadowed this tragedy. What does that say about our society?
Lastly—and perhaps the most important yet overlooked question in all this: Is it really so “wrong” or taboo for individuals who have different sexual orientations to show love, compassion and affection towards someone else, who doesn’t share those same orientations?
Photo Credit: Eddi van W./Flickr
The post The Power of Love: On Friendship, Acceptance and Death appeared first on The Good Men Project.