In Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky, it's a tradition to go down by the Ohio river and watch the WEBN fireworks. While it's been a tradition for the past three years for me, I still look forward to it every year. I was super excited because it was going to be the first time since the beginning of August that all of my friends would be together. We were so excited to see each other and watching the fireworks. Unfortunately, we will not be remembering this night as a fun night.
After the fireworks, we were determined to try to beat as much traffic as possible. I was holding hands with my best friend and my boyfriend to make sure that we wouldn't lose each other. All of the sudden, we heard a gun shot and we could tell that it was about 20 feet away. I let my boyfriend's hand go so he can grab our other friend, while I cling to my best friend's hand to run and hide. Luckily, there was a giant dumpster by us so my friends and I, along with a little over a hundred people, ducked down behind the dumpster.
I am usually a very loud person, but I was silent while I held onto my best friend's hand like it was my life line. She kept telling me that we're going to be okay, but I could tell that she was uncertain with what she was saying. I kept my eyes locked on my boyfriend and our other friend and every once in awhile I would glance at the three crying girls in front of me. They couldn't have been older than 12 years old and I was able to find my voice to try to help their mom calm them down. I couldn't just sit there in fear while these girls who were much younger than me were just as terrified as I was.
My friends and I stayed behind that dumpster for about four minutes, but it felt like an eternity. We started hearing sirens and people around us were walking like someone didn't just get shot a few short feet away. Still scared out of our minds, we thought we were as safe as we could be, given the situation, but we moved close to the river to stay far away from where the shooter was. I still held onto my best friend's hand like it was my life line and I was as speechless as I was when we heard the gun shot,
We got home okay and tried to be as happy as we could be. However, everyone was talking about what happened all over social media and when I finally read the article about it, I didn't believe it. It didn't feel like what I was reading was what I experienced. It didn't help that the usual tag line with the article was "when is this end?"
Can someone please tell me when it really will end? No one should be scared to go to a fun Cincinnati/NKY tradition or a movie theater or a mall. We should be able to live our lives and not be scared that someone around us might have a gun, or any violent weapon. We shouldn't have to have training on what to do if a shooting happens around us. There are so many things that we should be able to do without be scared, but now we have kids that are scared to go to school. We have girls who are scared to get in an argument with a boy because you don't know what kind of weapon he might have on him. Now, we have families who are afraid to go to the WEBN fireworks because of what happened on Sunday night.
If you know someone who was there, give them a huge hug and tell them that you love them. You never know what could've happened so remind them how much you love them. If you haven't spoken to this person in months, reach out to them. It's hard to get through something like this alone, so make sure that they never feel alone. Say a prayer for them and all of the kids that were there and are not traumatized because of it. Most importantly, stay safe out there and be prepared for anything to happen.
