My plan was to write about the Las Vegas shooting tragedy, but I have no words.. It has been nearly a week since it has happened, and the thoughts and words about it still come numb to me. It doesn't feel real, and it might never feel real.
Sandy Hook school shooting and the Orlando night club shooting still don't feel real and still make me feel numb. Every year whenever the anniversary of these shootings come up, it strikes my mind once again that they were real. They were real and a cold hearted person hurt and killed so many innocent children and adults. I've never known anyone who was the victim of a mass shooting. I've never lost a significant other, a sibling, a child, to such a senseless act of violence. So I guess you can say that I'm lucky. I'm lucky because the only time when I really have to think about them is near or during the anniversary of the dates. I'm lucky to be able to sit here and write about how the mass shootings are so awful I can hardly believe they're real. Because there are too many people (even more now) for whom the pain caused by these mass shootings is all too tangible. Every single day, they can see even the tiniest of posts on social media and feel that heartbreak all over. Their sadness is not and will never be just reserved for the anniversary like mine is.
But I am sad. Sad that my country breeds violence. Sad that my country also willingly puts the weapons to carry out that violence into its citizens' hands. Sad that so many cling so strongly to such an outdated amendment. Honestly, the fact that people still cling to their weapons and aren't actively working to put stricter gun laws into effect is just wrong. Sad that it's gotten to the point that I don't even know what to do or feel.
I wish I could say this article was going to be some rallying cry about how to join together to stop the ceaseless killing. But I think we all already know how to do that. It is by showing respect and kindness to everyone you meet. It is by never playing the role of the bully. It is by not keeping automatic weapons in your home and by teaching your children that everyone is a human being deserving of love and respect. By doing good deeds, for you never know how much one little good action can affect someone. This stays true for negative actions as well.
And yet still sometimes these things are not enough. All these good things aren't enough when the government and citizens aren't working together. We must turn to our government, and hope this time is the time they finally decide to act. How many more innocent people need to lose their lives before the United States finally realizes that allowing average citizens access to automatic weapons is a mistake? How many more lives have to be ruined? The mass shooting that took place in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday, October 1st, was the largest mass shooting to date. That's not a record we ever want to break.
On instagram a few days ago I saw a poem that really strikes what this world is coming to, and I will end this article with that;
"England is a cup of tea. France, a wheel of ripened brie. Greece, a short, squat olive tree. America is a gun.
Brazil is football on the sand. Argentina, Maradona's hand. Germany, an oompah band. America is a gun.
Holland is a wooden shoe. Hungary, a goulash stew. Australia, a kangaroo. America is a gun.
Japan is a thermal spring. Scotland is a highland fling. Oh, better to be anything than America as a gun."
Brian Bilston.
My heart goes out to all those who lost their lives or friends or family in this senseless act on October first. It was completely wrong and shouldn't have happened. With 58 dead and over 500 injured, it is one of the worst acts of violence I have witnessed in my 17 years living on this planet. I know nothing I could ever say or write would make your suffering less, but I am deeply sorry for your loss.
