I didn't plan to write about this, but as I sit typing on my laptop, I am realizing that I have to write about this. Yesterday, in Parkland, Florida, seventeen people lost their lives in yet another school shooting. The shooter, whose name does not deserve to be written or spoken, pulled the fire alarm shortly before school ended and opened fire on students and faculty members as they ran out of the school in a frenzy, because of the fire alarm. Seventeen people were murdered in cold blood. Fourteen people were sent to the hospital because of their injuries. And only to make matters worse, the FBI was warned about the shooter almost five months ago by someone who noticed a disturbing comment on his YouTube video where the shooter wrote that "Im going to be a professional school shooter". I honestly feel like I am going to be sick.
There have been only been 45 days in 2018, and only 31 of those days have been school days , thus far, there have been 18 school shootings. That is almost three shootings a week, or one every other day. I don't understand. I am at a loss for words. There have been 30 mass shootings in 2018 and those include the 18 school shootings.
School is supposed to be a safe haven. School is supposed to be a place of learning and education. School is not supposed to be dangerous, scary, or a place where people lose their lives. However, what school is supposed to be and what it currently is, do not match up. This begs the question, when are things going to change? How many more people need to lose their lives before things change? How much more blood has to be spilled before things change? When are things going to change? While we must first take time to mourn those who were lost in this tragic school shooting, we then must take time to call for action and change. Don't let this happen again. Don't let more students, teachers, coaches, and everyone else in-between lose their lives in another senseless tragedy.
So take your time and mourn the lives lost. Mourn the years of life that they had left and support the families who have to experience the excruciating pain of losing a loved one. However, use this tragedy to fuel the fire behind gun control reform and fight for schools to be a safe haven once again.
