Last Monday, I published the article, It's Time To Change The Richland High School Bomber Mascot. My opinion is simple, "The RHS mascot glorifies violence and ignores the tragedy our contributions caused. The bombers is a direct symbol of the thousands of lives lost and it is a disgrace and embarrassment to celebrate it."

I was met with an overwhelming amount of responses. Within the first 24 hours, over 3,000 people shared it on Facebook. Some of these posts had one or two comments and others, like mine, had over 600 comments.

The goal of my article was to be thought-provoking and raise discussion. As a writer, I think it's really important to not only express your opinion but to listen to others with an open mind. The beauty of the internet is that writers and readers have a unique opportunity to communicate. Not that long ago, opinions were published in the letter to the editor section of a newspaper. Today, anyone can express their opinions on social media, blogs, or, like me, on Odyssey.

Really, this innovation is incredible because the writer and reader can have an actual conversation about the piece and gives the writer an opportunity to receive feedback and maybe clarify a point or expand an idea.

I found the polite conversations between people with opposing views to be riveting and very educational. However, many comments were angry people screaming foul language and making threats directed toward me.

I found myself quoting my article, and honestly, that felt really weird.

Not only do I find it strange that I frequently had to direct quote myself, but I was also seeing photos of me from my Instagram that I had posted in 2014.

A lot of misconceptions about me raised out of the comment sections. For every one time I tried to expand an idea or clarify something out of my article, 10 more comments popped up and I simply cannot type that fast.

I still stand by my original article, and I still think it is time to change the mascot. After reading responses, I realized that there a lot of clarifications I need to make, because many people simply ignored things I said in my original article or have misconceptions about me.

Why I wrote this article.

Many assumed that I wrote this article for an assignment, money, or attention.

I am not in high school and no teacher assigned this to me. In fact, no one assigned me this topic.

Odyssey doesn't pay their content contributors unless they reach a certain amount of views. Ironically, the attention I received from my article was actually the reason why I got paid for the first time by Odyssey.

A lot of people claimed that I wrote this for attention, which is simply not true. My goal for this particular article was to get 100 shares on Facebook because recently my articles have been breaking 100 or just short of it. I shared the article on my profile and in one group, which organically generated over 5.1K shares.

I write weekly articles for Odyssey because writing is my passion. I use Odyssey because it holds me accountable and I get a lot of feedback from editors. It allows me to push myself to grow as a writer and I get to see how people react to some of my work, which is the best experience. Nothing brings me more joy than people telling me they were able to relate to something I wrote. I want to create thought-provoking pieces, and I view the bomber mascot as thought-provoking.

Some claimed I should be spending my time elsewhere because it is a waste to write about unimportant things.

According to his profile, Roy Rosalez works at Lowes. I'm not sure if that is the best way to utilize his talents to help homeless children. But I have no clue what he does in his spare time, just like he has no idea what I do in mine. I will let you in on one of my hobbies: fangirling over Mariah Cantwell and being very flattered I was ever compared to her.

This was a strange thing to read on my Facebook post. In Roy's defense, he was not alone. However, writing irrelevant comments on a college student's opinion piece seems like a bigger waste of time than trying to expand your skills in a particular field. I am studying journalism at Western Washington University. Writing articles is a way for me to practice different writing techniques and learn how to get my message across in clear and concise ways. Through writing articles, I get a unique opportunity to talk about issues in our world that I deem as important.

Some people commented that I should be spending my time doing more important things like volunteering at homeless shelters and charities. First, why does being a writer suddenly mean that I don't do charity work? Second, shouldn't you be doing that instead of commenting outlandishly rude and racist things on my Facebook?

I found it very odd that many people sat behind their screens and assumed that all I do is type about random crap all day. All people had to do was look at my page and see I write about other topics like politics and the election, mental health, friendships, feminism and my hope for peace in the future. It is also strange they assumed I don't have a life outside of Odyssey.

Some people translated 'anti-bomber mascot' to 'anti-American,' 'anti-troops,' 'anti-Hanford,' 'anti-Richland High School,' 'and anti-community.'

All these claims are far-fetched and simply false.

I saw similar posts a lot. Suddenly being anti-high school mascot meant I hated Richland High School, which couldn't be farther from the truth. I even said in my article, "Richland High School has all of those qualities and maybe even has some better qualities that make it stand out from the crowd."

As for anti-American, that simply does not make any sense. How can one logically translate a high school mascot as a representation of our country?

Some thought I was anti-Hanford and against those who work there. Hanford has done a lot of amazing work. However, I do not think we should glorify an atomic bomb by making it into a mascot. I never said that Hanford or the people at Hanford are bad. In fact, I said, "If we truly wanted to celebrate our contributions, we would focus on celebrating scientific and engineering accomplishments that have occurred at Hanford that didn't directly cost thousands of people their lives."

The claims that I am anti-troops are by far the most outrageous. I am appalled. In no way, shape or form did I ever suggest this. I even stated, "I also want to clarify that I am not making light of the American and ally lives lost. Just because I am upset about Japanese citizen lives lost does not mean that all my compassion is used up on one group of people."

It is absolutely disgusting to me that people could claim that by me not wanting to celebrate the atomic bomb claiming the lives of over 200,000 people, was me being anti-American soldier. The reality is, I am incredibly grateful for the people who dedicate their lives and put themselves in harms way for our country.

I cannot believe that people have the audacity to compare the desire to change a high school mascot to being disrespectful to those who risk their lives for our freedom. When you give a high school mascot the same respect as a soldier, you are belittling a soldier and their sacrifice for our country.

Many mistook me as saying we should forget WWII.

I could not have made myself clearer. "We should never forget the past. WWII was horrific and terrifying and one of the darkest experiences that has ever happened on this earth. We need to remember it for what it is: A time filled with fear, bloodshed, sorrow and hatred. The bomber mascot warps the war into a time filled with only glory and hard work. These existed but they do not make it OK to forget those whom lost their lives."

Keep in mind that celebrating and remembering are not the same. Never forget history because we are doomed to repeat it. Don't celebrate war because then we desensitize ourselves to it. Remember with respect and dignity, just like I wrote last week, "I will treat the situation with respect and dignity and look at the consequences of the atomic bomb."

Yes, the article was biased and not facts.

If you call it biased, you are correct. It's an opinion piece and no one is trying to tell you it's a fact. If you felt guilty after reading that, that is called your conscience. I did not shove my opinion down your throat, as so many people suggested. I wrote a piece and you chose to read it.

My opinion doesn't meant that I won't amount to much as a person, which a lot of commenters suggested.

This one was by far the most amusing comment that I need to clarify. (Refer to the section above to learn that opinions do not equal facts.)

When you call me a kid who will never amount to much, I will remind you that in 24 hours I managed to make literally thousands of people read and talk about my work.

When you tell me I will never be a successful writer, I will point out that thousands of people praised me for being brave enough to speak my mind on an issue so deep-rooted in our culture that I received death threats over it.

When you say I am just a kid who doesn't know what they are talking about, I will tell you how reporters from across the state shared my article. Even Bill Wixey, an Emmy-winning, Q13 FOX morning anchor, followed me on Twitter.

People have been approaching me about the article and telling me stories about what they have seen on Facebook and about dialogs that have happened because of what I wrote. Many are contacting me saying that I changed their opinion or that they found the article to be very thought-provoking.

Of course, there is the small chance that this was my 15-minute claim to fame, but it gave me a taste of what my future may look like.

I will keep pushing because no matter how many rude, vial, horrific people are out there, I won't stop writing.

Stay tuned, because I'm just getting started.