Survivor: Parkland, Florida’s Mike Zahalsky and family are safe

The Parkland, Florida school shooting tragedy hurts us all, but for Survivor’s Mike Zahalsky and his family, it hurt way too close to home.

For many fans of the show, Survivor offers us a distraction from the bad times in life. For an hour or two a week, the show is an escape from the unending awfulness that exists in the world around us, giving us brief comfort before we face the true reality. For studious fans of the show, the horror of Wednesday’s Parkland, Florida high school shooting provided additional fears beyond the immediate terror; Mike Zahalsky from Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is from Parkland, Florida.

By the good graces of fate, nobody in his immediate family was harmed in the incident, but the reality is that it could have very well happened. Tangible fears of a school shooting are everpresent in today’s society in the United States, especially in a year that has experienced 17 incidents involving a gun at schools in just six weeks. The fact that it happened in a high school local to a player from as recent a season as one that aired just two months ago should be setting off alarm bells (if you can’t hear them ringing already).

The sheer magnitude of this horrific shooting extends far beyond the Survivor community, and in politics beyond the United States itself. At the same time, perhaps that added layer of relevance to the events that perspired, the idea that someone you know and appreciate from your favorite reality competition was affected by this tragedy, could possibly galvanize enough collective support so that an event like the Parkland high school shooting could be prevented in the future.

I don’t have the answers to this question. I can’t tell you the exact measures that need to occur to make sure we never have to worry whether someone we knew on television is affected by such tragedies. All I can offer is an unending plea that something tangible happens this time; some discernable action is taken that even incrementally prevents even one school shooting from happening again.

Survivor aids us in our ability to forget, but the Survivor community should always remember what happened in Parkland, Florida. From all of us at Surviving Tribal, we wish the hurting community, including Mike Zahalsky and his family, a resounding recovery, and hope that if any positive can be found, it’s with legitimate, actualized change that starts today.