In light of the recent horrors that are the Orlando shooting, murder of Christina Grimmie and the Stanford Rape Case, it is important that we talk about how we are getting used to such violence and even terror in the media.
I never imagined such a world where rape was deserving of a lesser sentence or where guns were the machine dictating the attack, not the human. After hearing week after week and month after month of the violence that happens all too often, I think we as humans get desensitized to the violence that should make our skin crawl.
Sure, there's national outrage, especially when it comes to the Orlando shootings; but is that outrage still here and as fervent a week since it happened? Not really. Every time an attack happens, what do we do? We are upset that it happens, recognize there is nothing we can do, send our thoughts and prayers to the families and all those affected, then tune it out and attempt to focus on our own lives again.
Unfortunately there isn't much that can be done, desensitization is something that happens naturally when we watch violence on television. Even if violence is just on the news, it becomes more and more natural to us and now. because of how scary the world has become, we can't even feel safe leaving the house without some sort of weapon or "Plan B" so to not get killed or injured. However, we also have the issue of "being limitless" or knowing that there is a lot of violence in the world but ignoring the elephant in the room so to speak. Either "extreme" is bad. We need to recognize the world is changing and that there is a lot of violence in the world but it is still safe to go outside.
We need to remain educated and aware of what's going on in society today without sticking our heads in the sand. We need to recognize that every life lost (even if it was a terrorist) is still a life lost and is a horrific event, that someone who may have been so special to another person is no longer in the world. In addition, we need to keep the value of human life at the forefront of our minds, and even well after the tragedy we should continue to send good vibes, thoughts and prayers to those involved — our lives aren't as affected but the families and friends of the deceased or afflicted have had their lives changed drastically. The trauma they are facing is oftentimes bigger than anything most people have ever had to deal with. If we continue to live with love and compassion, perhaps then we can be a light of hope in a world of cancerous violence that is affecting the minds of all.
