Dear Congress,

I’m just going to go ahead and say it: I’m mad.

I’m mad that I’ve become accustomed to seeing little to no interference from you when major problems arise. I’m mad that I’ve seen so much gun violence in the last five years or so. I’m mad that our country is disintegrating in front of you while you stand back and watch. I’m mad that you’re not more upset by the recent happenings.

What? You are upset by the shootings and the violence? You have funny way of showing it.

After the Pulse shooting in Orlando, I thought that maybe you would all do something to stop something like that from happening again. But no. Instead you’ve spent the past month or so discussing the budget for the Department of Defense and the Homeland Security Act—and before you get too excited about either of those, it has little to nothing to reducing the shootings and hate crimes that have been happening recently. It manages how much money we spend on wars and whether or not we should give passports to citizens who identify as Muslim.

Are these important things to discuss? Of course. But are they the most pressing discussions? Not to me.

As an American, I relish my freedom. I love that I have the ability to stand on a street corner and shout my beliefs to strangers if I so chose. I love that I can submit articles every week to be published and shared with the public. I’m glad that I can refuse to indict myself on the stand. I love that I don’t have to house troops if I don’t want to. I’m glad that I can vote and use my voice. I love that our Founding Fathers set up our country in a way that amplified our voices and encouraged us to sing in harmony.

But here’s the thing: in a country with such a high value placed on freedom, bravery, and pride, why don’t we value safety in the same way?

Because at the end of the day, does freedom matter if we’re too afraid to leave our homes? Are we really brave if we use our voices to spew hatred? Are we proud to live in today’s America?

Honestly, I’m not.

When our Founding Fathers cut ties with England, they fought for the right to be heard. They worked tirelessly to ensure that we would be guaranteed the rights that they were denied. They drafted the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, and even the Articles of Confederation in order for us to live safely in the nation that they created for us.

They didn’t create this country so that we can watch our people slaughter one another and turn the other cheek.

So I, as an American citizen, ask this of you: What are you going to do to fix it?

I don’t pretend to have the answers. I don’t pretend that it will be fixed in a day. I know that most of the proposed solutions are temporary fix-its that won’t solve the long-term issue that our country is facing; honestly, it’s going to take quite a bit of time just to define exactly what that issue is.

It will be hard. You’ll have to talk about the things that everyone like to skirt around: Gun control. Homeland security. Terrorism. Immigration. The hard stuff. But you have to do it. It’s your duty as an American and to the American people to make decisions that are best for the nation as a whole. You weren’t elected just to sit around and make miniscule changes to existing bills. You were elected to serve us. And right now, it seems like you’re serving yourself and your political parties instead of the people.

For the good of everyone, you need to stop that. There need to be House-wide and Senate-wide discussions about how we can move forward as a nation. People are confused. People are scared. No one knows what to do or how to react; all they know is that the senseless killing is not over. We all live in fear of finding out that it is our loved one next.

As leaders of our country, it is time for you to step forward and do exactly what you were trusted to do: lead us. Make the tough decisions, but do so with some sensitivity: remember that we need you to help us. We have entrusted you with this power, and now is the time for you to seize it and use it well.

We need you to help make us feel safe in our homes again. We need you to help move forward. We need some sort of change. We need you to act.

Sincerely,