It is August 13, 2016. I tense and shake as I write this article. There was a shooting in Crabtree Valley Mall in Raleigh, North Carolina. I don't know how many died or how many of my friends were in the mall, but it is terrifying.
That is not all. This morning, Capital Boulevard was closed off due to a shooting that occurred last night. Earlier this week, a black man was shot and by a man claiming that he was protecting his neighborhood in North Raleigh. His name was Kouren Rodney Thomas. He was 20 years old.
I ended high school in the midst of tragic events. Christina Grimmie, a singer who I grew up listening to on YouTube, was shot and died the day of my graduation. The next morning, I woke up to news of the shooting that occurred at the Pulse night club in Orlando, Florida which killed 50 people. I was heartbroken by these events. Now I start college with anxiety about what freshman year will bring in the case of safety.
I believe it to be known that this violence is not new to the world, especially not to me. When I was a little girl growing up in small town Georgia, a teenage boy was shot and he was taken to the hospital in our town. Fear raced through my heart like a train. I don't remember what happened to him. I grew up very fortunate, there have been those my age and younger who have been struck by violence with such power that it sounded to the world.
There has been violence in America that is in the nearer past than the L.A riots or Columbine. USA Today has reported that there is a mass killing every two weeks. Wikipedia has given a long article of terrorism in the United States dating back to the 1800s. The United States of America leads the world in mass shootings. This is the same country who proclaims in their anthem, ' land of the free, and the home of the brave'. How can one be free if one is confined by terror and violence and faces death every time they walk go out of their house.
Violence has struck in every part of the earth. It faces you in the most discrete fashions. It happens anywhere, anytime. Even if the National Rifle Association were to one day become in touch with reality, it would be too late due to the millions of lives lost as a result of gun violence.
This is a time of sorrow and tragedy, yet it can be a time of hope. Before I wrote this article, I prayed to God to help me to endure; I was sickened by the violence all humans in the world have to face today. A song that comes to mind is Sam Cooke's "A Change Is Gonna Come". It is fitting for the circumstances in which we live. As humans living in our ever-so imperfect world, we wonder how we will be able to survive to the next day. In all reality, all of human life is under attack, whether black or white, male or female, Christian or Atheist, carnivore, or vegan. The value of human life matters least to many people due to selfishness and hatred. However, we can still look to a better future for ourselves and our loved ones. Another song to keep in mind would be John Lennon's "Imagine". I have faith that if given the chance in a world with no death, hunger, sorrow, or pain, people can show love to one another. While I am still shaken at the horror of today's world, I look forward to the prophesy of Revelation 21: 4, "And he will wipe out every tear from their eyes, and death will be no more, neither mourning nor outcry nor pain be anymore. The former things have passed away."
