We can't stop writing about school shootings
Another day, another shooting at a school. That makes twenty-two school shootings where someone has been hurt or killed in 2018. There have been more than 300 shootings or attempted shootings at schools since Columbine in 1999. THREE HUNDRED!!
Friday it was in Texas, again. Santa Fe High School. Ten are dead in this one. Nine students and an art teacher. AN ART TEACHER!
Imagine someone who dedicates her life to teaching children a subject so beautiful and peaceful as art meeting such a destructive and violent end to her life. Hard to wrap your mind around it, isn't it?
Sadly, that's the new normal in America. Here's what else has become normal...the words surrounding the shootings.
It always starts with thoughts and prayers. Next is talk about gun control. Then comes the 2nd amendment rap. Followed up by equating gun violence with car accident deaths. We finish up with arming teachers with guns.
A few days later, we're on to the next thing....until the next shooting.
There is one more thing said that no one mentions. Writers stating that they can't write about gun violence anymore. They've written everything there is to write on the subject. It's all been said. It's just a rehash. They're all talked out.
I get it. I understand feeling this way. I felt that way.
It was just three months ago. Parkland, Florida. Stoneman Douglas High School. Seventeen dead and another seventeen injured. I watched the reports and went on with my day. I had already written thirty blog posts about on this topic. I had nothing else to say. I felt I said it all. But after thinking it over, I decided I had to make a comment. I had to write something. People who write have to write something. It's our responsibility to use our forums to try to stop this senseless violence. Who knows, maybe one of us will write something that touches a nerve. Maybe it's enough to bring the change needed to end this and keep our children safe. That's why I'm not going to stop writing about guns and violence in America. That's why I'm making a vow to write about every single shooting moving forward.
Shooting children while they're at school is not normal. Parents being scared to send their children to school is not normal. If writers writing about this topic is what it takes to bring our country back to the real normal, then I'm all in. I hope other writers are, too.
Related Post: Faces of gun violence
Type your email address in the box and click the "create subscription" button. My list is completely spam free, and you can opt out at any time.