I can’t take it anymore. I can’t keep waking up in the morning to hear that a new tragedy has ruined a beautiful day. I can’t handle checking Facebook only to see another picture of a victim whose life was a casualty of hate. I don’t know how to not be scared that horrible things keep happening yet nothing is changing. I don’t know how not to be afraid of the world.

How are you supposed to find hope in a place where catastrophe seems to prosper? How are you supposed to find love when hate is the only word people know? How are you supposed to trust the good and not focus on the bad? How are you supposed to not be scared?

I’m scared that we’ve reached a level of complacency where we’re all okay with hating injustice when there is something clearly unjust going on, but we’re never okay to do anything about it.

When tragedy strikes we go through the same motions every time: express your sympathies, say your prayers for the victims and state your opinion about the corrupt world we live in but never do anything about it, because that would be just a little too hard. And then when another person or group of people is killed you wonder why nothing has changed.

It’s not enough to just tweet about loving one another. Maybe you’re comfortable simply sending good thoughts from your cell phone, but your retweets aren’t going to change the world.

We have to start living the love that we desperately claim to want. I know that in the world we live in it’s almost a form of self preservation to be on the defensive, but assuming that someone hates you because of what you believe, what you look like, or who you spend your time with will only give you an excuse to hate them back. Hate already spreads like wildfire, so why add fuel?

Maybe it doesn’t seem like you can do much to stop bad things from happening and maybe that’s why you move on so quickly, but I promise that’s not true.

I know that being kind to one another won’t stop bad people from doing bad things, caring for your brothers and sisters won’t make all the guns in the world disappear or bring back lost lives, but it’s a good place to start.

When Gandhi said, “You must be the change you wish to see in the world,” he didn’t mean tell your Facebook friends about how you wish everyone could just get along. He meant go into the world and build relationships with people you usually avoid, make someone smile and make a difference.

If you’re okay with everyday tragedy being the norm then I guess this isn’t for you, but I can’t take it anymore.

I can’t watch innocent lives be taken everyday.

I can’t handle that so many people have to live in fear everyday.

I can’t live in a world where people know more hate than they will ever know love.

I can’t.