America, so it seems, is grinding to a complete stop. With the devastation in the south from the unprecedented chains of hurricanes, Puerto Rico the most in need right now, and the Las Vegas massacre that claimed the lives of 59 people on Sunday night, it is completely normal to feel lost in the tides of the times. The world is coming at us fast, and although we must do all we can to get back on our feet and aid those who do not have the means to aid themselves, sometimes we need to just sit down, take a breath and cry.

This was my position on Sunday night when the Las Vegas terror attack happened. I live on the west coast, so Twitter was sprinkled with a few tweets here and there. I started seeing videos of what was occurring; I'm sure if you’ve been on the internet for the past few days you’ve seen such videos, so I won’t bother to describe them in detail. I cried a lot that night: for what we had lost, for the people who had lost their loved ones. I was afraid because I could have been someone I loved at that concert. It could have been me.

It is so easy to be consumed by fear of the unknown in times like these; it could have been anyone in that crowd. Life is terrifyingly unpredictable, and can be given and taken away so, so quickly; we are reminded of this each time something like this happens. It’s so incredibly hard to function under the weight of this uncertainty, but this brings me to my next point: we must get back up and do something. The hard part about understanding things like this that happen is that they don't happen for any valid or even nearly justifiable reason; they happen on the whim of someone with radicalized beliefs and access to guns. They happen because they can happen.

I’m not going to say that gun control is the only option, but it’s the one that makes the most sense to me currently. Whatever this country can do to stop these acts of terrorism should be done with haste and expediency; the clock is ticking down before something like this happens again. This isn’t about politics; it's about protecting people and valuing human life over the livelihood and support of the NRA and pro-gun constituents. It's about finding an ounce of compassion within yourself potent enough to make a change. Call, email, get in touch with your senator. Do what you can, but don’t feel like you have to do everything. One person cannot solve this issue, many before have tried and failed. It takes a group of us, working together with the same goal, to hopefully convince our current executive and legislative branches of the absolute value of the human essence, and to say that we will not allow this to happen to us again.

As for the lives lost themselves, I’m at a loss for words, because words fall short of the pain and suffering that has emanated from an event that was supposed to cause people great joy. There are no phrases I can write that will mend the wounds, no position I can fight that will bring those we have lost back. I’ll leave you with this: do everything you can to aid the people suffering, and love everyone around you. Together we can make this a turning point in our long history of tragedy, together we can heal and grow while remembering all those we have lost.