The circus came to town this week.
And the circus performed of its own accord with its own rules in its three frenzied rings.
As Gainesville took the international spotlight for one of its churches’ planned-then-suspended-then-canceled Quran burning, the media swarmed to our tiny town in north-central Florida like moths to flame.
And as front-page sightings of the pastor began to dwindle as the story-to-beat-all-stories fizzled, the circus just wouldn’t let go.
This story was too good to die.
On Saturday morning, Gainesville returned to normalcy with the announcement that the Quran burning was canceled and that Pastor Terry Jones had flown to New York City.
The Swamp’s orange-and-blue-bathed crowd was reborn, and the Dove World Outreach Center was surprisingly quiet.
But the media waited for something — for anything.
The sound of news vans idling, carrying satellites larger than the Dove Center’s entrance marquee, filled the air as the front yard of the church started to look like an RV campground.
And that’s because this was the story that became the story, and the storytellers became the characters.
We’re sorry it came to that, Gators.
As the publication that not-so-officially represents the university that lies within the same city limits as the church that has caught the international spotlight for its hateful messages, we’ve been overwhelmed by the media knocking on our doors and camping in our town.
But Saturday afternoon, as news began to fizzle and stories began to die, the people became the story.
And we’re glad because that’s the real Gainesville. This was the Gainesville the world needed to know.
Students for a Democratic Society marched in droves to the center to send a message of peace.
Floridians and citizens from across the country joined to see church on a narrow two-lane road and tell the world what they wanted most: peace.
Heck, even People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals was there, talking about veganism’s correlations with a peaceful world.
We’ve come a long way during these past weeks, Gators.
Members of our community have received death threats, and our police were forced to set up a rumor-control hotline to dispel lies and enforce the truth.
UF had to ensure the safety of its students, as parents and students alike shared concerns about potential violence at Saturday’s football game.
Religions were tainted, and there’s no repairing that. Ultimately, the damage has already been done.
As Gators and Gainesville residents took time out of their Saturday to stand outside the church with an ironic peace-invoking name to promote their own messages of acceptance and welcoming with handmade signs, we were finally able to see what Gainesville wants the world to know.
Gainesville deserves its time in the sun, not in the shadows.
