To the victims of the next mass shooting -as there will definitely be one- this one is for you.
You read that right.
This isn't an article to read if you want to be comforted or told that everything is going to be okay and to just hold on to hope in the meantime.
This isn't written to gloss over the hundreds and hundreds of deaths that have occurred in this nation in the past few years.
This definitely is not an article saying "I'm sorry for your loss" to the parents, children, and friends who have lost their loved ones.
Unfortunately, having a stranger write "I'm sorry" over the internet will never get back the lives that have been lost, will never stop the guns from going off again, and will never take away the fear that is now living and breathing beneath all of our skins. It is time to stop sending our condolences over the internet and start looking at reality in the face.
The harsh, morbid, reality that any time you step out of your house and go anywhere it could potentially be your last.
No longer are day-to-day places safe.
No longer can you go into a grocery store, a church, or movie theater without glancing over your shoulder looking for the nearest emergency exit.
No longer are schools and universities safe places. You have to walk into a classroom and accept the fact that this might be the last lesson you will get to learn, and if that last bell rings and you're lucky enough to go home that day, know that tomorrow is a new day, and a new extremist or mentally unstable person can easily come and shoot the life right out of you.
It's a shame that this is how far we have let this go, and if I'm being honest, the individuals in charge of running this country should be beyond ashamed of themselves. They should not be able to close their eyes at night and be rewarded with a restful sleep when at the same time there are mothers crying themselves to sleep over the loss of their child.
No one should be sleeping peacefully when there are mass shootings at every corner —there is no time for sleep, there is only time for change.
So, to the victims of the next mass shooting, whether you're my neighbor, a student thirty states away, an uncle, aunt, or even myself, I hope you are not entrusting our government with your lives, because clearly, all they are capable of doing with our lives is simply leaving them out on the shooting range and "praying" the bullet misses them.
To the victims of the next mass shooting, I really am sorry that this is how you will be taken away from this earth —through the cold hands of a sadistic individual and their weapon.
This is no longer about the condolences and memorials that come after a shooting, this is about knowing that you can be a victim of a mass shooting -no matter what your race, ethnicity, sex, or political affiliation is- your life can be ripped away from you with the pull of a trigger, in less time than it takes you to say "I'm sorry for your loss."
