There are so many points of rumination surrounding the tragic hostage situation in Sydney, Australia.  The fact that the perpetrator was not an Islamic terrorist (as some have claimed) but rather a deranged individual who channeled his anger at the world through religion.  The fact that, because of Australia's strict gun control laws, this was a tragedy but not a massacre (as it likely would have been in the U.S.).  The fact that the hero who sacrificed himself to save the rest of the hostages was a gay man who, in Australia, was not allowed to donate blood.