Okay world, stop. Just freaking stop.

Why is the greatest concern of people around the U.S. currently clowns? Not war, not intruders, not the controversial election, but CLOWNS. It has become an "epidemic," a word used to describe a widespread disaster, not people dressing up. The fact that our society is currently referring to a childhood pastime as an "epidemic" is heartbreaking.

See, the issue is a small group ruined the trend for everyone. People dressing up creepily, looming on a corner, honestly just being creepy is strange, but hey, you do you. It is the small few attempting to lure people into the woods, following people home, potentially hurting people, using empty threats. It is a small few who have ruined the trend, made it so that a simple threat by an unknown source can shut down an entire institution and/or town.

I attend Eureka College, a small school in central Illinois, and lucky for us, the clowning clan decided to react to one of our students calling them out for the stupid things they do. And sure enough, a wonderful threat of the clown's presence and intended violence came to light.

So naturally, in response to a potentially violent threat, the entire college shut down, cancelling classes, practices, meetings, and the like. This article recounts the events from an administrative view. Clowns never showed up, but the idea that a simple tweet or two has the power to shut down a school is terrifying. What is this world coming to?

It's time for the clowning to stop, but maybe more so, it's time for us to take back the power. We can't live in fear of something that may or may not be happening, something that may or may not be harmful. It's ok to have fear, but I challenge everyone to use the fear to move forward to overcome rather than to wait for life to pass by. Clowns don't run this town anymore, take it back!