Like most hashtags that go viral on social media, this one has a story. A sad tale of violence and the awe-inspiring display of human unity that came out of it.

On January 29th, 2013 in Chicago a 15-year-old girl, Hadiya Pendleton was fatally shot in the back while at school. That was only one week after Pendleton participated in President Obama's inauguration. Her death rocked not only her family, but the entire Chi-town community. It prompted her friends and family to wear the color orange in her remembrance, but what started in a tight nit community on the Southside of Chicago has engulfed the nation and turned into a country wide campaign.

The movement is supported by hundreds of small organizations nationwide, but largely by Everytown for Gun Safety. #WearOrange has grown into a national campaign that sheds light on gun violence. Every year on June 2nd everyday people, athletes, celebrities and politicians alike come together to recognize the tragedies of gun violence.

And therein lies the problem.

Let me clarify. The issue is not that people are coming together to recognize the true atrocities of gun violence, for that is absolutely needed. The issue is that like many hashtags that have a story that tugs at people's heartstrings, it's talked about for a day, tweeted about for a day, posted on Facebook for a day and that's it. Maybe a couple weeks given luck, but usually it's forgotten about until the next hashtag rolls in and the next viral story comes about.

Think about it. Do you hear anything these days about ALS? Remember last summer how everyone was participating in the#ALSIceBucketChallenge? Or how about #BringBackOurGirls? When Hollywood stars and political figures took photos with a sign donning this message. Both these hashtags, like #WearOrange, symbolizes real societal issues that drastically impact people of this nation and around the world. These issues are not going to be resolved simply by people supporting for a day through retweets, likes and favorites.

The things is #WearOrange might be just a hashtag to us, and yes we too sympathize with all those affected by gun violence. But it is not just a hashtag to the families affected. It is not just a hashtag to the communities devastated. #WearOrange isn't something to be only typed on a keyboard, sympathized and forgotten about after June 2nd.

So let's talk numbers and politics.

Since 2013 there have been approximately 186 school shootings in America. That's 186 communities devastated that each hold thousands of people. Essentially millions of people affected. Everyday on average 297 people are killed due to gun violence in America, by murder, suicide, unintentional shootings and police intervention. Every year on average 32,514 are killed because of gun violence.

Now let's talk politics. Gun violence has skyrocketed to the to the top of the national problems list that politicians hold. As citizens we would like to have credence in the people we vote for to be able to take the necessary actions to eradicate, or at least lesson our national problems. Unfortunately our politicians will debate back and forth until they are blue in the face about what solution is best, before embarking on any kind of change. Understandably so, however time tarries for no man and more people are dying by the day. Whether you believe that stricter gun laws and governmental regulation of firearms is indeed the way to go, or that "guns don't kill people, people kill people" we as citizens have an obligation and a certain amount of power that can help resolve our societal issue.

So what can you do?

For starters, you can help establish a gun safety culture. We are the nation with the most guns, period. However, in our culture, our music and our media we like to almost glorify how cool guns can be. We tend to link guns and status together, whether you're aware of it or not. In movies characters known as "cool" or "badass" can often be ones with gun skills and action packed moves (i.e "Lara Croft Tomb Raider," "Taken," "Bourne Identity.") In some music genre's we outright promote gun violence. If we begin to shift our thinking, not completely change, but start making gun violence a not so casual thing where we no longer barely blink when another tragedy flashes across our TV screens.

Next, as supported by The Prevention Institute, we can support citywide planning and implementation of violence prevention plans that include prevention, intervention, enforcement, rehabilitation and reentry. We are a community, all together as one. In order to succeed in dismantling the issues that face us, we must implement a system in which we all cohesively work together.

Finally, above all, the simplest thing we can do is alter how we go about and look at #WearOrange. Stop thinking short term and providing only short term sympathy. It may not impact you directly, but what if one day it does? Begin looking at it, as well as all other issues connected to a hashtag, as direct and long term problems that you can help resolve. As much as people like to believe, retweets, likes, favorites and posts are not going to solve anything by themselves. What good is sharing a message if no one is going to act?

This is our community. We live, we eat, we work and we sleep right here. Let's take it upon ourselves to restore a sense of safety in the places we call home.