Another mass shooting. More lives lost, more conversations about policy, and still nothing changes. We see it again and again and all that happens is a mass flood of “Thoughts and Prayers!” messages on social media and political arguments in Facebook post comments.

Thoughts and prayers are, of course, a wonderful thing to share in times of tragedy, and they can bring comfort to victims and witnesses and even to each other as our nation mourns great losses of life. Kind words can’t stop bullets, though. Thoughts can’t stop someone from walking into a place of learning and opening fire. Prayers can’t bring back children, parents, or friends.

My generation has grown up with mass shootings. The Columbine shooting occurred when I was just shy of one year old. The Sandy Hook shooting occurred when I was a high school freshman. This last week I listened and watched the school shooting in Florida unfold as a college sophomore. Mass shootings, terrorist attacks, bombings, war, and so many other acts of violence have been at the forefront of current events for my entire life.

When these horrific events unfold, I’m not surprised anymore. Most of my peers aren’t, either. We’ve seen this violence from the time we were young children. We grew up watching shootings, terrorist attacks, wars, and social unrest unfold on the nightly news. I’m not saying I think these events are normal - I am horrified each time a new tragedy occurs - but I’m never shocked. I’m frustrated that we have had to live in this kind of world.

A world where we have become desensitized to violence. A world where footage of shootings is available on our Snapchat discover page. A world where we have a feature on Facebook to be able to check in as “safe” during a crisis. A world where we continue to watch tragedy but do little to prevent it.

Now the question becomes “How do we stop this from ever happening again?”. I don’t have the answer and I don’t think any solutions will be found until people sit down and open up a real conversation. Not a “Well I NEED my guns!” versus “Make all guns illegal!”.

A real, heart-to-heart talk about why these shootings keep happening and how to protect those we love. We don’t need heated arguments based on political views, we need real conversations about our policies, about our resources, and about how to protect our citizens and ourselves. I don’t think the answer is black and white, but I think we all know that something needs to change.

We need thoughts and prayers, but we also need policy and change.