"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." -Mahatma Gandhi

My heart is breaking for this country right now. Normally I take pride in the fact that I am from the United States of America, the greatest country in the world, but today I am ashamed of our people. I am proud to be an American, don't get me wrong, but lately we are in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The world is watching and we're tearing ourselves apart from the inside out.

The media sites have been referring to what's happening as "violent protesting." It's not. You're rioting, and for what? Yes, another person was fatally shot by police. However, you don't give time to look at the facts. You don't give time for the investigation to take place. The man exited a vehicle possibly with a weapon and seemed to pose an imminent threat to officers who were there to serve a warrant to another individual. You want to shout instead that "black lives matter," which indeed they do just as any life does, but you want to shout it without taking into account that this shooting did not happen because of race. It had nothing to do with the color of anyone's skin, and I think that it is ridiculous that in their article about the rioting, ABCNews had to point out the fact that both the victim and the officer who fired the fatal shot were African American.

You say you want change. You want your voice to be heard. Have you stopped to look at everything as it unfolds around you, though? The very people that you are "protesting" against are standing by, putting their own lives in danger, to make sure that no one else is hurt by your violent outbursts. They are making sure that anyone injured in your rage, whether protesting themselves or not, gets the medical attention they may need.

You say you want to make a difference. You want to shake up this world and make it open its eyes to see injustice, but tell me which part of what you're doing is just? You're looting and burning boxes in the road, shutting down a busy interstate and breaking windows. What are you really going to accomplish? Gandhi was peaceful. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr was peaceful. The methods of the people who were actually successful in what they were attempting to accomplish are being completely ignored in favor instead of acting like savages and looking like fools.

Stop jumping to conclusions. You're rioting and "protesting" before anyone even knows the complete story of what happened. Any time there is an officer-involved shooting an investigation occurs. Wait for that. Wait for the conclusion of the investigation because it is already in the process of being investigated. The officer involved was placed on paid administrative leave. They're looking into the incident. Justice is going to be served. Trust that. Wait for it.

Regardless of the outcome, we've got to stand together. The United States is becoming too divided because everyone is talking and no one is listening to each other. There is nothing that we can accomplish through this method and there is certainly nothing that can be accomplished through rioting and acting in such a way that reflects poorly on our citizens. Wake up, America. You're doing it wrong.

"Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that." -Martin Luther King Jr.