Well, it's happened again. Fifty people are dead, more than 50 people are injured, and the United States of America has been shaken up by tragedy. The shooter, Omar Mateen, was gunned down in the gay nightclub in Orlando, Pulse, where the shooting took place. Although the complete motives of this senseless act have died with the perpetrator, his parents admitted to his anti-LGBT sentiments. It has already been described as an act of terrorism or hate, and the police have revealed that Omar Mateen pledged allegiance to ISIS during the shooting.

Again is probably the most sickening word in that entire synopsis paragraph. There has been a mass shooting again. Innocent lives have been taken again. Families have been needlessly destroyed and loved ones needlessly taken again. The nation needs to have a conversation about gun control and homophobia and terrorism and senseless violence again. Because, once again, not enough progress has been made to keep people safe.

The word again also makes us seem tired and jaded. We are tired of the conversation, tired of fighting, tired of losing people that we love. Every mass shooting because more expected, every reaction becomes more of a head shake and less of a sob. We forget that the growing mass of victims used to be separate, individual people just hours before. We forget that a lost life has more value than a political statement one pulls from the ashes of tragedy. We forget to mourn, and the claws immediately come to attack our political enemies. Again.

But what can be done? After the mourning, the heated discussions that usually result in a standoff between two unyielding sides, and new tragedies cycling into the news on a daily basis, what remains? What can you, a single, solitary human being, do to make sure that the horrible, looming again doesn't reemerge? There has to be more than a Facebook status with a carefully chosen Martin Luther King Jr. quote or arguing with someone in the comments section of an article or even being the person simply reading those comments.

Honestly, the answer to that question is not as empowering as one would hope. We cannot all run into a phone booth the moment we hear of trouble and sprint out wearing a flowing cape to save the day. Political involvement is our most obvious tool, but laws for or against guns or LGBT rights or anything else that could be a factor in this incident and all mass shooting and senseless tragedy will never be completely effective unless something else happens first.

First, we need to change the American state of mind. And the typical punching bag of this sentiment, far right-winged ideology, is not the target. Close-mindedness is the target. The idea that disliking a political candidate so much that you attack his supporters at political rallies is the target. Refusing to tolerate other people because they are not similar to you is the target. The target is also excessive violence in media and in television. The target is the inability to compromise when it comes to gun regulation (on both sides), resulting in a lack of progress. Those people who get into ignorant arguments on the bottom of article links are definitely the targets.

Unfortunately, changing the American mindset is an issue that sees more progress generation by generation than hour by hour; it's incredibly frustrating. It's not what we want. We want progress and love and peace to come faster, but opening up a closed mind and a closed nation takes time. It takes as much time as a young man who dreams of peace to grow up and be voted into office. It takes time to teach the next generations to learn from the present mistakes. It also takes time to build up courage to interject for your believes when someone around you is stating an opinion without thinking of the idea from all sides.

Do what you can in the present day to advance us toward a better future. Get more involved in politics at every level and voice a stand on the issues that matter to you. Don't be afraid to speak up when someone around you isn't opening their mind.

Check to make sure that your mind is open as well. Just because you side with who you see to be "the good guys" of a certain issue, that doesn't necessarily mean that your mind is open. If you're opponent refuses to budge, maybe you need to be the first to move. Spewing hate and having a narrow outlook works on both sides of any idea.

So start at the beginning. If your mind is as non-judgmental and shrewd and loving as possible and you pass on that mindset to those around you, hopefully we can all work toward a better end and a safer tomorrow. Again.