What do you take away from the tough times you’ve experienced?

One warm summer night in June, my dear friend woke up in a panic. He didn’t know why. But he couldn’t go back to sleep. So he got on Facebook and started scrolling. He started seeing glimpses of horror.

Friends in his community were under attack in the Pulse Night Club. He was safe at home. But two of his friends were murdered.

A few weeks later, I flew from Dallas to Orlando to visit my friend and his family. We took the last day to visit the memorial for the Pulse massacre victims.

That afternoon, I got on a plane to return to Dallas. I took the time to catch up on news and was horrified by the police shootings that week. I then learned about a protest in downtown Dallas. As soon as I got home, I called for a Lyft to take me there.

There were about 1,000 of us. We were a diverse group that were all deeply concerned about gun violence against innocent people. After about an hour of marching, the leaders gave an inspirational speech. Then we continued on our route.

I remember thinking that it was getting dark, so I should put my camera away. As I looked down at my camera case, I heard three pops. They were pretty close.

I looked up and saw a huge crowd sprinting my way.