I haven’t spoken out about this because I’m a person who hates hatred, but I can’t take it anymore. On Monday, July 25, I woke up to a New York Times article on my phone that read, “Two people have been reported killed and at least 17 others injured in a shooting at a nightclub in Fort Myers, FL.” I felt sick to my stomach — not only because Fort Myers is where I land when I visit my grandmother, but because it’s another shooting. Are we lying to ourselves? Do we actually live in “the land of the free and the home of the brave?" I, for one, feel as though I have to be on guard everywhere I go now which isn’t bad, but it’s just sad. Additionally, it’s gotten harder for me to sit contently in a movie theater and walk confidently on college campuses because there has been shootings at these places, too.

The timing of me not being able to handle these catastrophes anymore and the timing of a BB gun being mistaken for an actual gun the other day at Brookdale Community College in Monmouth County, New Jersey (my own school) is kind of ironic. Fortunately, when this happened, the student who thought they saw another student with a weapon took action and called the Brookdale Police. The student who had the BB gun was taken into custody. Nobody was hurt. Brookdale’s campus is safe, don’t get me wrong, but in today’s society school shootings and mass shootings are all over the news, so whenever people see any kind of suspicious behavior, it can’t be ignored. Unfortunately, schools everywhere now have to practice active shooter drills for precautionary measures. When I was younger, we had lock down drills and fire drills — never active shooter drills.

I remember back in December 2000 when I traveled with my family to South Africa to visit my father’s family. Security didn’t take long, and almost anything was allowed to be taken on board the aircraft. It wasn’t until September 11, 2001 that security got heightened. When I visited the World Trade Center with my family in Kindergarten, I asked, “What would happen if a plane flew into the building?” They told me that would never happen, but because of hatred in the world, it did.

It’s scary to think, but if I’m at the wrong place at the wrong time or wearing my “IDK NOT TRUMP THO” shirt around Republicans, I could potentially get shot. Furthermore, to this day I will never understand why Voice singer Christina Grimmie was shot and killed while signing autographs for fans. I understand that there were no metal detectors and people were not patted down at the Plaza Live in Orlando Florida, but what I don’t and will never understand is Kevin Loibl’s motive. She was a young woman who loved what she was doing yet got shot. In 15 years how did we go from being unable to conceive terrorist attacks as a real threat to seeing potential shooters almost anywhere we go? There’s a Black Eyed Peas song called "Where Is The Love?" and at this point in time I think we all have to live by the verse: “People killin', people dyin' Children hurt and you hear them cryin' Can you practice what you preach? Or would you turn the other cheek? Father, Father, Father help us Send some guidance from above 'Cause people got me, got me questionin'...

Where is the love?”