I was born and raised in Pittsburgh. Besides college, I have lived in Pittsburgh for all 28 years of my life. Pittsburgh has my whole heart and if you have been reading Summer Wind for any length of time, you know that I am the biggest advocate and supporter of my city. I wholeheartedly believe in Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is special. I know that I’m biased and I know that people who have never experienced Pittsburgh could be rolling their eyes at this statement. But it really is special. Pittsburgh is warm and friendly. Pittsburgh is known as accepting- a melting pot of race, religion, and heritage
The people in Pittsburgh are strong. Pittsburghers are hardworking. Pittsburgh is unpretentious.
Pittsburgh is also a small world. A big city of many, but it feels like a small town. A funny example is that when my mom and dad went out on their first date. They were from two very different parts of Pittsburgh, but when my mom told her parents that she was going out with my dad (she told them his full name), my grandma freaked out and asked ‘well how old is he?!’ My dad and grandpa have the same name. It turned out, my grandma (my mom’s mom) and my grandpa (my dad’s dad) went to college together and my grandma thought that my mom was talking about my grandpa! Small world, indeed.
It’s Saturday morning at 10:30am. I’m sitting in my hotel room in Lexington, Kentucky getting ready. My parents had gone out to get donuts and coffee before we headed to Keeneland for our yearly visit. My boyfriend called me because he was in the car with Henry on the way to Chik Fil A. He lives in Shadyside and was en route to the Waterfront. The route he took that morning and any time he goes to The Waterfront is to pass right past the Tree of Life synagogue.
We were chatting about what errands he was running that morning and all of the sudden he goes ‘oh my gosh, Sydney, google what is going on in Squirrel Hill. I’m on Shady and there are an insane amount of police cars and sirens.’ He was passing right by the Tree of Life synagogue.
I promptly google Squirrel Hill. An area I frequent often. An area where my mom grew up. Nothing was coming up in my searches. I turned to Twitter, a few tweets were saying there was an active shooter. This was so early on that no news outlets had even picked it up yet.
I promptly turned on the news and started scouring the internet for more information. My stomach was sick and my eyes were welled up with tears.
I was watching my city, my home, my people go through a tragedy that was unfathomable. I was just watching in absolute disbelief. To see such hatred anywhere is sickening but to see it in your own city where you know there are so many wonderful, good people, is almost unbelievable.
I am proud of Pittsburgh. I am proud of the people in this city and I will pray for all of the people and families affected from this horrible act of hatred and violence.
It has been incredible to watch my city react with such an outpouring of love, prayers, and support. It was incredible to see the amazing law enforcement and first responders doing absolutely everything they could. The way Pittsburgh has come together is a true testament to the community we have in this city. I will forever be proud to be a Pittsburgher and forever be proud to call this great melting pot of a city my home.
I wanted to touch on something that I think we may all be able to learn from. At about 1pm, I received a direct message on Instagram from a follower.
She said ‘love your blog, but quite frankly, I am shocked that, especially as someone from Pittsburgh, that you haven’t commented in today’s tragic shootings.’
I was a bit confused as to why I had even received that message. I had retweeted the safety directions from the Pittsburgh Department of Safety as the shooter was active. I had also tweeted a message of support and condolences. But that’s not the point and I don’t need to defend myself in that.
To receive that message was a little frustrating. I know the sender did not mean to be hateful or hurtful. I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years now and my skin is very thick. I can recognize a truly hateful comment or a comment made to specifically try and hurt me. I can also recognize a truly bogus, unwarranted comment. I’m also able to respect people’s opinions and openly accept and appreciate constructive criticism.
But this message stuck with me. Because you know what bothered me about it? It was not supportive. It was not thoughtful. I found it to have an accusatorial tone to it. The message was sent so hastily. (2 hours after the news started to break). This person was so quick to judge and point a finger at me.
The message made me cry. I'm not really a cryer and I can tell you that I never cry over stranger’s message on social media.
It made me cry because if I were that person, I would have messaged the Pittsburgher and said, ‘I am so sorry to hear I of the tragic news in Pittsburgh, I wanted to check in on you and let you know I am thinking of you and praying for Pittsburgh. I hope you and your family is safe.’
And you know what? I received so many messages just like that from so many of you. I didn’t need those messages but they reminded me of the wonderful Summer Wind community that has been built for the last 10 years. It was a simple reminder that there are good, kind, caring people in this world.
My point in sharing this with you all is that we are all guilty of pointing fingers and being quick to judge in any situation big or small. We all need to be much more accepting and compassionate with one another.
Behind that message, I was dealing with heartbreak and just because I did not immediately jump to share my emotional state on social media, does not mean I don’t care and I don’t have feelings. Everyone handles grief differently. We are all human and we are all just trying to be and do the best we can.
I hope we can all work on being better about being quick to judge and we can all be more compassionate and empathetic toward one another- especially in times of such tragedy.
My heart breaks for my city and everyone affected, but I will work hard for all of my life to be a light in a sometimes dark world. This has been my mission here on Summer Wind from the very beginning. I hope you can all join me in this and together we can make the world a better place. I will be a Pittsburgher forever and always support my neighbors near and far. Please pray for Pittsburgh and please pray for those who lost their lives and their families and friends they left behind:
Joyce Fienberg, 75, of Oakland;
Richard Gottfried, 65, of Ross;
Rose Mallinger, 97, of Squirrel Hill;
Jerry Rabinowitz, 66, of Edgewood;
brothers Cecil Rosenthal, 59, of Squirrel Hill, and David Rosenthal, 54, of Squirrel Hill;
married couple Bernice Simon, 84, of Wilkinsburg; Sylvan Simon, 86, of Wilkinsburg;
Daniel Stein, 71, of Squirrel Hill;
Melvin Wax, 88, of Squirrel Hill;
Irving Younger, 69, of Mount Washington
*List of names source.
Please
consider donating to the Tree of Life Synagogue. This is a verified GoFundMe. The American Red Cross has scheduled a blood drive on Friday, November 2nd from 11am to 4:30pm at the William Pitt Union on the University of Pittsburgh's campus. You can
make an appointment, here.
'
Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate, only love can do that.' - Martin Luther King Jr.