I hate going to the movies. I didn’t always hate it, but now I cannot go without being nervous. I am constantly looking for the nearest exit and staring down the people that wander into the theater late. Why?
Because, in 2012, 12 people went to the movies and didn’t go home.
If you are just 20 years old at this moment, this was not the first or last tragedy of your lifetime. According to USA TODAY, there have been over 200 mass killings in the United States since 2006.
In 1995, 168 people were killed and over 680 people were injured in a domestic terrorist bombing in Oklahoma City.
In 1999, 12 students and one teacher were killed in Littleton, Colorado at Columbine High School.
In 2001, international terrorists hijacked four airplanes and flew them into the World Trade Centers in Manhattan, New York, killing more than 2,996 people and 415 firefighters and law enforcement officers.
In 2007, 32 people were killed in the deadliest shooting by a single gunman at Virginia Tech University.
In 2012, 20 children and seven teachers were killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the deadliest mass shooting at a grade school.
In 2013, a domestic terrorist attack killed three people and injured over 264 at the Boston Marathon.
In 2015, nine people were killed while attending church in South Carolina.
And sadly, many more.
No matter how many people die in these tragedies, they still have the effect to shake an entire nation. Just this week on September 14, a professor was shot and killed at Delta State University's campus in Cleveland, Mississippi.
When does the violence end?
It has gotten to the point where I often ponder where I can be truly safe. People are bombing office buildings, shooting in churches, killing children, students, and someone who just wanted to run a marathon or go see a movie. When will it stop? When can I go to the movies again and not be scared that someone is going to start shooting? When will I be able to sit in class and not look around the room at my classmates and wonder if someone has a weapon?
The truth is, I don’t know. I don’t know if complete safety is something that is ever going to be 100 percent attainable. The truth is, there is probably going to be someone somewhere who somehow got a hand on that gun whether it was purchased legally or illegally. Tragedy can always happen. If you’re looking for answers on what the key to the Pandora’s box of world security is, I don’t have them. However, what I can tell you is that I’m 20 and I’m mad, and you should be too.
If you’re in your 20s, your news stations have been filled with violence since you were younger and it’s not getting any better. We see video footage of ISIS threatening the United States. We see people dying in movie theaters, churches, military bases, and in their homes. As a generation who is making their way into the adult world, we need to take a stand.
In our lifetime, we have already witnessed too many tragedies and we have seen too many lives prematurely taken. Instead of pushing a political perspective, I’m going to say: get angry. Get angry with the fact that movie theater shootings are still occurring, get angry that people sitting in church are getting slaughtered, and get angry that children are being killed at home or in school. As a generation, we need to promote change. As people our age take office and make their way into the work field, we need to use our anger towards these tragedies and think about how we and the people we loved have suffered in just the last twenty years.
I don’t want to be scared to watch a movie or go to church, and I know I’m not the only one who is. These massacres are making people scared to do mundane things in their lives, and that is a problem.
The next time that you think what you do doesn’t matter; remember this article. Whether you’re joining the military, becoming a cop, finishing up your degree in Psychology or doing whatever you want to do with your life, you can make a difference.
Maybe our generation can prevent the next tragedy.
