They showed up.
From across the country and around the world.
They showed up.
To listen to live music. To relax. To sing along.
They showed up.
To bid farewell to the fading summer and welcome the hints of fall.
They showed up.
To meet with friends and connect with strangers.
And then he showed up.
Revelry turned to panic in a shower of bullets as the worst kind of history was made under the lights of the Vegas Strip.
They showed up.
Concert-goers became protectors; humans became shields.
They showed up.
Picking up, running with, carrying out the scared and the injured.
They showed up.
First responders, running toward the horror, focused on saving lives.
They showed up.
Doctors and nurses in blood-stained scrubs fighting for the lives evil had tried to take.
They showed up.
Trauma counselors answered the call for volunteers and met the scared, broken and distraught whose lives were forever altered.
They showed up.
They filled chapels and churches to keep their promise to pray.
They showed up.
Waiting for hours, even overnight, to donate blood.
They showed up.
Filling other needs to capacity – food, water, hygiene products, and clothes.
They showed up.
Surpassing funding goals for people they might never meet.
They showed up.
They brought hope. They shared life. They sat and cried with the hurting. They demonstrated that humanity’s darkest moments cannot hold sway when love shows up.
Whether a natural disaster or an act of terror, courageous hearts full of hope and action will always win. These are the moments when that divine spark shines brightest because love is so much bigger than anything any force can throw our way.
Love showed up. Hope showed up. Courage showed up. Life showed up.
And it will every time.
If I Knew Not Midnight 