In a time where the news floods with death, violence and hatred it is hard to turn on the tv or scroll through social media. It is the topic everyone is talking about and voicing their opinion on. Passion and emotion are struck when hearing about the tragedies of today's world. Hearts have broken across the world upon the news of more people dying.

While anger is easy to fall into, killing is not the answer to any issue our world is facing today. Every person works hard enough to fight their own battles, fighting for their life should not have to be a concern. Ending another person's life does not solve any problems or prove any points.The violence needs to stop.

But the saddest part involving today's current events is that the violence no longer surprises us. Another shooting. Another murder. Another life that should not have been stolen. We have become to familiar with the headlines but the consequences of these events are not always so obvious. It's the children who no longer have a father or mother, the siblings who lose their sister or brother, the spouse who is now a widow, the best friend who no longer has someone to confide in, a community who now has a loss to mourn, and a sadness that will haunt the lives of every person that life touched. That is what matters.

Every single life matters. We are all the same as human beings with beating hearts that are just as capable of love as they are of hate. We can make peace or we can make war. We can choose to forgive and live or we can die trying to convince others that certain lives do not matter when in fact no one person is more important than another.