There are no answers here. The truth is you, and the entirety of the Czech Republic were grievously injured in your collective soul. Whatever the motives of the shooter was, it is a senseless crime whose goal was to paralyze your heart.

Grieve first. It's necessary. However, don't let this cruel, twisted soul poison you. They win if you let it happen. Use your pain. Start by being with friends, classmates and family. Offer little kindnesses. A cooked meal or a timely errand, even pausing to listen to another person who is working through the same pain you are. It's doesn't seem like much, but it is your humanity that will get you through this.

When you finally begin to not feel so frozen, maybe invest time into social action to prevent this from happening in your country again. Work to be sure our American disease doesn't get a hold of your body. My country is broken here and the lesson you need from us is not let it infect you. Fight for it if you can.

Again, my condolences for all of your losses. They're probably inadequate, but know you are not alone.

Take care, stranger.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Thank you.

I will try to not get angry, and use these emotions for good.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Don't worry about feeling angry. That is a normal emotion when things happen out of your control that you would like to be able to change. It is the emotion that tries to give you an extra impulse to move from a state of inaction or fear to a state of action to change it or prevent it in the future. Normal emotion. But just not always helpful if the thing you want to change is still outside your control.

Just do not let that anger turn via blame into hatred. That can happen if it is hard to change the things you would like to change, and the anger starts getting directed at the things or people that you feel as "doing nothing to help", "doing the opposite of helping" or even "the cause of this problem" and stays there. Again, it is normal to feel anger or blame here. That can help to find ways to change something, but from there it can slide into seeing those things or people as "enemies", the root cause of everything you would like to be able to change, the opposers and blockers and the evil that wants to keep your thing from ever to change. That is where hatred lies. Anger that cannot be resolved unless something or someone else changes.

You can also use that anger and blame to find constructive ways to make the change. As other people mentioned: grieve together. Find out that they are as helpless as you to change what is past. That they are as afraid as you of things outside your control. That they also feel the pain of loss, and would also like to prevent this from happening again. Bring food, talk, listen. Everyone wants to feel seen, heard, and trust that they won't have to keep fighting or be forgotten if their needs aren't met, but be able to find support and care in the people around them. By sharing and showing these kindnesses, you can build or strengthen these bonds of trust in the community.

Anger is a call to action, and blame can be a way to find the places where those bridges of support may have weakened, where those mutual and basic needs are likely to be unmet. The action can be to rebuild them.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago

This is such a good comment, thanks

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago

Don't be afraid to get angry.

Angry changes things. Angry drives us, motivates us, pushes us forward.

"Angry gets shit done."

You deserve to be angry at the piece of shit who did this, and every piece of shit who drove them to it.

That's OK. Don't wallow in anger. Don't sit she stew in it endlessly. But permit yourself to feel it. Do not fear your anger. Embrace it like a friend; let it take your hand and pull you forwards into positive action, even if that action is something as small and simple as choosing to be kind to others and live your life better than the person who angered you.

[–] cluelessafterall 8 points 11 months ago

To add to others here, anger is neither good or bad. It is an emotion. It is okay to be angry at people causing pain and suffering. It's how you deal and use anger that matters. As others said, let it be energy to create positive change and don't allow it to burn you out from the inside.

So allow yourself to be angry, to feel the hurt and to be sad. Then do the work to make the necessary changes to make the world better.

Hugs