Over the past few months, violent and abusive attacks have made national news on many occasions. Whether it be the Pulse nightclub shooting or the coup in Turkey, "attack" is a word that has become the forefront of our vocabulary.

After a week-long vacation that I returned from yesterday, my grandmother picked me up from the airport and began to make small talk on the way home. Her first subject for discussion? The train attack in Switzerland, where a man set a carriage on fire and went on to stab multiple victims. My grandmother chatted on about this tragedy, remarking on the horror that has become our world and how someone could do something so awful.

And what did I do? I tried to block her out. I turned up the radio, I played with my phone, and I did everything in my power to not acknowledge what she was saying. This has always been my defense mechanism- if I pretend I don't hear her talking, then I can pretend these horrible events aren't taking place. If I can block out the noise, then I won't have to worry about it.

Suffice to say, "ignorance is bliss" is my go-to way of dealing with uncomfortable situations. I don't like to talk about the bad things, choosing only to focus on the good. When I arrived home yesterday and escaped the car and my grandmother's attempts at a hard conversation, I began to wonder what I was really hiding from. Bad things have happened all my life; I remember being in first grade when September 11 took place. But why do I feel the need to run and hide from the newspapers, to turn up my music when I hear CNN reporting another terrorist attack, to change the subject when anything hard comes into question?

Why am I running from what's right in front of my face?

I've started to realize that there is a reason we need to talk about the tragic events that are taking place in our world today. Actually, there's two. The first is that we need to do everything we can to make sure things like the Switzerland train stabbing and the Pulse nightclub attack don't happen again. People deserve information on these events so that they can be cautious and aware when another situation like those may come into question. We need to be on alert and be able to recognize the signs that something is off, so that hopefully we can stop attacks before they become the next subject of the 6 o'clock news.

But the second reason we need to talk about the things that make us uncomfortable? The reason we need to make sure we're aware of the bad things that happen? It's because we can't let ourselves became hard against any of it.

Let me explain- it's like a virus. When a child is given a vaccination, their systems are subjected to a small dose of whatever the vaccine is being used to prevent, so that the child can build up a defense against it. Their systems become harder and tougher and are able to fight against the virus that would try to attack them. But when it comes to dealing with the attacks that happen everyday, across the globe? We can't let ourselves become hard against them.

We need to let ourselves feel the pain and heartbreak that come with every attack, so that our compassion can comfort those who it directly affects. We need to be moved by the things that happen so we can find a way to try to make them even a little bit better. If we let ourselves think of these as a normal occurrence and don't let ourselves be bothered by them, then what's the point? Why are we fighting if there's nothing to fight for?

This world is a big, bad scary place. It's time that I stop trying to ignore that fact. Yeah, I'll still try to remember all the amazing, lovely things about it as well. But it's time I stop being ignorant of the horrible things taking place around me. It's time I stop thinking about how I can distract myself from them, and instead let myself feel the pain and heartbreak that they cause. I need to let myself care about these things, so that I can do my part in trying to stop them.