Consider this: summer officially began on June 20th, though temperatures have been scorching for some time before, and 16 children and a handful of pets have died due to being left in a hot car. According to noheatstroke.org, that number is down from 24 hot car deaths in 2015, but summer hasn't ended yet and, unfortunately, neither has this senseless behavior.

You can turn on your local news and hear a story on any given day about another child or dog dying a slow, excruciating death in a sweltering vehicle. You can scroll through social media and read the same heart-wrenching headlines. People across the nation, desperate to stop this epidemic, have suggested leaving a shoe or a cell phone-- something "important" -- in the back seat in order to remember a child or a pet, but is your shoe or your phone really more important than your child or dog? People have even gone so far as to invent new devices to prevent these nonsensical deaths, but should such devices even be necessary? In my opinion, this is the real hot car debate. Your personal possessions will never be more important than a life, and as a parent, you shouldn't have to rely on a manmade object to remind you that someone you love is in the back seat.

I cannot deny that there is absolute tragedy surrounding these incidents, and I do sympathize with the families. They've lost someone, whether it be a son or daughter or a beloved family pet. A death occurred and that alone strikes sorrow into the hearts of millions. But no matter how deeply I may feel for these families, there is absolutely no excuse for abandoning an innocent, helpless child or pet in a hot car. In many cases, the individual at fault was only gone "for a second" or they've been "under a lot of stress lately," but at what point does a mistake become ignorance? At what point in life did your job or your errands take precedence over a child you created or a pet you adopted?

Furthermore, how many children and pets have to die before legislators take action? Heatstroke.org elaborates by claiming that, "only 20 states have laws specifically addressing leaving a child unattended in a vehicle." Arkansas is not one of them. The remaining 30 states have no such laws, and the majority of states do not have a Good Samaritan law in place to protect an individual who takes action to save a life (Arkansas, however, has such a law). Though no incident of a hot car death has been reported in Arkansas in 2016 at this time, it's quite possible that it could happen tomorrow and to someone that you care about.

As a nation, we have to take action. I loudly and proudly pledge to break a car window to save a life. Will you