With the recent shooting at Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, I can’t help but think if this violence will ever end. From terror attacks abroad in London and Paris, to shootings at music festivals, to violence in major U.S. cities, it seems as though there is a new incident every day. When I receive messages indicating there has been an attack on my phone, I can’t help but feel that the messages should scare me more than they do. It just feels like these alerts will never stop.
These attacks are personal for many people, including myself. I knew students at Douglas High School in Parkland, and when I hear there has been an attack in New York City, I call my dad to make sure he is safe at work. It’s saddening, frustrating, scary, and frankly exhausting.
Unfortunately, there is really no safe place to go anymore. If these incidents happen in ordinary high schools around the country, could my former high school be next? What about my college, where a shooting happened last month after a student from a nearby college walked onto campus with a gun? How can we patrol this?
This brings up an essential question: Do we live our lives in fear, or live on the edge? Traveling is one of my great loves, but how do I know that I am safe walking in the streets of Europe, Asia, or even major cities in America? Terrorism and gun violence are not new concepts, but for some reason it seems as though it’s only increasing every day.
Attacks like these are and will continue to be a challenging problem that we are called upon to fix. Keeping each other safe will be the greatest feat of our generation. So, how can we accomplish this?
