Dear Humans

Humans of all races

Humans of all genders

Humans of all political views

Humans of all religions

Any American that will listen to a young person

I love all of you, every single one of you. I most likely have never met you, communicated with you, or even know you are alive but that doesn't matter. I love people passionately no matter their background. No matter if you are gay, straight, black, white, multicultural, transgender, gender fluid, male, female, in transition, republican, democrat, unemployed, CEO's, rich, or poor.

I love you no matter if you are Christian, Muslim, Jewish, worship an Eastern god or atheist. I do not care about your background, or even what you have done. I can love people but not have the same values as them. If I offend you by anything I say, I am sorry. I hope you can extend the same grace to me that I would try to extend to you.

I am passionate about many things. All those things I am passionate about have the same end goal, making a difference. By being an activist, the worst thing I could do is to keep quiet when things get hard. Advocacy starts with yourself, so I am finally letting myself say what has been burning in my mind for months. I am finally telling my story in hopes that it helps you see what I have seen in the youth I have the honor to represent.

I am a youth development major, and will be graduating next May, and will hopefully finish my Masters in teaching the following year. I have dedicated my life to raising up a strong generation of future leaders. My goal is not to be remembered by crowds but to be remembered by the children that I serve. I want them to be great and to have a bright future.

In order for them to do that, they need to be alive.

When I was doing one of my practicum classes, I was in a classroom that went into lockdown. It was not a drill, and it was the most life-changing moment of my life. Throughout that time on the ground trying to comfort my first students EVER, I had multiple children of color ask me if they were going to get shot.

This to me is DISGRACEFUL.

Children should get to be children, not be afraid of being shot. Children should feel safe to learn, not fearful that they will die. We need safe schools to be able to educate our children to be world leaders.

I believe that the issue lies in the heart of man. We need to protect our children from harm. One step we can take is to require people to undergo a mental health evaluation to own a gun. We can also make schools safer by changing the doors of schools, making walls thicker, and using tape to put a line on the ground that is a symbol of where a shooter cannot see you if you stand behind it.

We can also arm teachers with resources to help at-risk children and students who show signs of mental illness. We can also choose to arm teachers with more time to focus on the social connection of their students, and with more mental health resources, instead of arming them with guns.

I believe that we all have a voice, and we all have an opinion, but we all want the same thing. We want these shootings to stop, and to never happen again. We want peace. We want children to grow up in a world they can be proud of. You can help. You can contact your local officials and tell them how you feel. It takes 5 minutes, but it can change a life.

I hope one day to be able to teach students and know that their lives will not cease by a bullet. I want to one day be able to tell my grandchildren that I used my God-given abilities to help change the narrative of our nation's story. I hope you will decide to use your voice for the betterment of our society.

Yours,

A Youth Activist