Over the past several weeks, citizens have occupied social media with angry tweets, upset Facebook posts, and heartbreaking Instagram pictures recounting their experiences and thoughts regarding the safety of citizens -- especially children -- in relation to gun control. Platforms have been buzzing with the words of people who have continued to fight for politics and now those who are just finding their voices. Although great strides have been made regarding gun control reform in the state of Florida since the shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School, the battle has only begun.
I beg you. Please, don't let your drive for political action die out now.
Just a couple of months ago, the internet was roaring with attempts to protect net neutrality by way of users sending comments to government officials of the motions needing to be protected. We saw the circulating phone numbers slowly begin to get shared less and less each day, and fewer people sharing their thoughts recounting internet experience ending in #NetNeautrality. What once was a pressing topic slowly lost its importance and prevalence in society.
Until we find a resolution, we can't stop; otherwise, the Stoneman Douglas shooting will end the same way every other mass shooting did. Spoiler alert: nothing changed. When the shots fired, everyone cried out. We took to the internet and begged for change. We grew angry, confused, then defeated. When we realized nothing was changing, we slowly stopped speaking out and retreated back to the routines of our daily lives. The lives lost are still mourned by the people closest to them and holiday dinners will never be the same for those families, but the government stopped caring after they shared their "thoughts and prayers."
We can't let the Parkland shooting be the same as all the others.
I refuse to let the names of the 17 victims be forgotten or for there not to be anything done yet again. We've already made great strides and can continue to make them if we demand to be continuously, and unapologetically heard. Take that anger you felt when you heard the Florida House of Representatives denied the ban of assault rifles in a room with several victims, and call your local Senators. Take that agony you felt when you read the list of the 17 students and selfless faculty members who were murdered at the place they should feel safest at, and continue talking about the changes that need to be accomplished. Take that fear of your school being attacked next and head to your city's March For Our Lives on March 24th.
Take your town and cover it with messages of hope and demand for change. Show the Capitol that we will no longer back down and we will no longer be overpassed or forgotten.
Bring your friends, parents, sons, and daughters. Bring everyone you love and come in numbers. Make signs and t-shirts; wave your flags high in the sky to show the world that American is on a path to success.
