It's easy to avoid thinking about the painful truths of what is happening in the world. As much as we are all on social media and constantly seeing news articles popping up in our feeds, we get desensitized. We get shown pictures of high schoolers mourning their friends juxtaposed between other posts about food or celebrities. We come to think of the terrible things as facts of life, telling ourselves that this is just something that happens.

We don't bring it up with the people that we interact with because it's too depressing to talk about. It's easier to look down at our phones and click through Snap stories than it is to take a hard look at how messed up the world really is.

The trouble is that we're not engaging with each other. We get so used to keeping our minds shut down and our hearts pain-free that we don't connect with anyone else.

I am definitely not without fault in this. I find myself avoiding situations or topics that have the potential to make me or those around me uncomfortable. While this may be considered the polite thing to do, it's definitely no what is best for us.

We need to be able and willing to have discussions about difficult topics without a fear of aggression. You don't have to be impartial all the time. In fact, you shouldn't be. Nothing will ever change if people just go around in circles. No one will ever learn anything that way.

We can make things better. It's just a matter of not passively taking in information and actively engaging with the people around us.