Last night I had a dream. In this dream I was in church worshipping in the back row when I heard a voice scream “he has a gun!” As I whipped around to see who this gunman was, a shot rang out and everyone in the congregation scattered. I ran to the closest exit and hid behind a pillar, shaking. I was shaking because no one just shoots up a church for no reason, but somehow, they do. I woke up sobbing because this is a real fear in our world today. We live in a world in which people shoot up churches, movie theaters, schools, and malls. We live in a world where whenever I go to a crowded place, I begin to think of exit strategies and tactics in case of a shooter. We live in a world of a divided conversation: for or against guns. I, personally, am for a different conversation. We are so focused on the device that causes the problems instead of the perpetrators behind them. We are so obsessed with the arguments in today’s hot topics rather than on how to unify together to solve them.
I’m no political genius, but taking away our second rights isn’t going to stop people from obtaining guns, especially if they are mentally unstable or have evil intent in their hearts. The kind of reform that needs to happen in this country is a reform in the way we treat one another and in the way the media portrays the news. Before the coverage of Columbine there was a lack of school shootings and now it seems that there is a new school shooting every week. Just this past week, a fourteen year old boy murdered his father and then proceeded to shoot up an elementary school. This is not okay. Why has this become our country’s norm? Why do we give these stories full coverage and hype?
Another trend that I have seen in the news is the trend of police shootings and riots. This whole “Black Lives Matter” vs “Blue Lives Matter” thing has gotten way out of hand. Innocent African Americans are dying in our streets, but so are innocent policemen. While there are cops out there who are corrupt, there are also African Americans who are doing wrong, as well as whites, Asians, Mexicans, you name it. This is not to minimize the issue of racism that is still so awfully prevalent in our country to this day. I understand that I come from white privilege and that I could never possibly understand what it is like to be a minority group amongst this tension, but that doesn’t mean that I do not feel for both sides of this heated and complicated debate. I’m not saying that neither black or blue lives matter, what I’m saying is this feud is getting us nowhere and gun control is not going to stop our innocent American people from dying in the streets.
The conversations around these issues are completely irrelevant to the real issue at hand. The issue isn’t guns. The issue is the heart of this world. Instead of fighting against one another and getting so offended by each other’s opinions, we need to unify as one country. It doesn’t matter if you’re a Democrat, Republican, white, black, cop, protester, etc. What matters is that our country is in a desperate state. We are not going to get anywhere if we keep bickering over differences of opinion. So please, put down your defenses and allow yourself to see the real issues at hand. I know that I am not the only one who fears for what is next. I know that I’m not the only one who wants a real change in this country. But, I can’t speak for the entire nation, or for even my generation. All I know is that we will get absolutely no where by getting all pissed off everytime someone disagrees with what you believe. Get over it. Who cares if you’re pro "black lives matter," or against gun control, or voting for Trump in the election? What we should care about is finding a middle ground and creating a safe environment for a conversations to take place.
I know that I will get backlash for even expressing my opinion in this small way. I see it all the time all over Facebook. Someone posts something even minutely political and all of a sudden the comments are filled to the top with “right answers.”
Guess what? There. Are. No. Right. Answers. Only opinions. Although, what CAN be done to facilitate this country in the right direction is a change of conversation and a change of attitude. Let’s bond together as a nation and fix things and stop our people from being killed and reform this political tension.
