December 14, 2012 in Newtown, Connecticut

November 13, 2015 in Paris, France

June 12, 2016 in Orlando, Florida

October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada

November 6, 2017 in Sutherland Springs, Texas

All sound familiar?

With the influx in mass shootings, one thing seems to be consistent: people have become desensitized to the shootings that have gone on, whether recent or not.

We’ve seen the pictures of each location, before and after. We’ve watched the news videos that show us disturbing clips of the tragic events. We’ve shared our condolences on social media.

But do we care?

Sure, many do care. I won’t doubt that.

But, surprisingly, many aren’t affected.

A lot of people take more time to mourn the latest death of a sports player, rather than the 26 that were BRUTALLY murdered in Texas, recently. Personally, I didn’t hear about the shooting the day of because I hadn’t been watching the news, or on social media. However, many people didn’t talk about it. And that’s what’s scary.

My journalism professor didn’t talk about it, nor did my history professor. I was honestly surprised, because with this being such a current event, they didn’t feel that it was a necessary topic. However, when the Sandy Hook shooting occurred, we talked about it for weeks, everywhere.

The Sandy Hook shooting made headlines, along with many of the other shootings, but the one thing that was different about Sandy Hook was that it stayed in headlines for a long time. Probably because it was one of the first of many to come since 2012. I remember where I was. But, after the Sandy Hook shooting and a few others, I’ve stopped having these moments.

I was in a hotel in Montreal when I heard about the shooting in Sandy Hook.

I was home, on the couch with my parents when I heard about the shooting in Paris.

Unfortunately, shootings have become so common, now, that they make headlines one day, and are forgotten about by the next day. The Monday after the Texas shooting, other stories were promoted as headlines, because of course it had become, just another shooting. We can’t let this become the new normal. Although it might already be too late.

I’ve found it hard to find the words to really express my feelings on this topic as cordially as possible. It’s hard. It’s hard to deal with situations like this that instill fear into all of America. We all have fear in our minds and pain in the back of our chests of “what if that was us? What if we had known someone affected?” But we choose to ignore the facts. There is no need to live in fear. Unfortunately. devastating events have become passing conversation, rather than getting the recognition that they deserve.

“Did you hear about that shooting? It’s crazy.”

“Yeah, I know. Hey, do you wanna get lunch later?”

Shootings are real, people. Treat them as such. We can’t let it become the new normal.