People are becoming complacent in the United States, and it is preventing action in the right direction.
In certain cases, everyone is working towards the same goal—a quintessential example: stopping school shootings. Even if you own a gun, that doesn't mean that you want more school shootings to happen—there are other reasons, such as self-protection. Although I do not have the desire to own one myself, I understand the appeal to some and why they feel entitled in owning one.
This, however, makes us complacent—it makes some of us forget that some people should not own guns and that something MUST be done about school shootings.
Claiming that there is no possible solution because of being able to buy firearms on the black market is not only complacent, it is ignorant. Until people begin to open their minds and accept that this is a problem that NEEDS to be stopped—no ifs, and, or buts about it—more children will die. It may even take a gun owner in denial of losing a child of their own to open their eyes—and that is incredibly sad and wrong.
People on the other side are also becoming complacent, I find myself feeling a hopelessness wash over me at times and I feel stuck in a land of no good options—so no change is brought about, at all. I have to remind myself that I have a voice, I have the ability to stand up for what I believe in and potentially make a difference. I have to remind myself that even if my impact is small, my impact still exists.
You may say what can we do—we don't have the power to do much. We can post, hold signs in protests, stand up for what we believe in, but what good does it really do?
These things make us complacent, they make us want to give up the fight.
We can't.
In a world—no, in a country, where children are dying in places that are supposed to be safe—where they are mandatorily told to attend.
In a country where children are being separated from their families and put into cages.
In a country that blames those that suffer most—immigrants, the poor—but has a president that couldn't show us his tax returns (because he skipped them), who sent out a nuclear weapon on one of the first days of his presidency, who fired the trusted head of the FBI, who's been (suspected of) talking to Russia in a Country that is still scared of rebellion and change because it reminds them of communism, who's been talking to someone we view as dangerously unpredictable (a match made in heaven), Kim Jong Un.
We are not the worst country in the world, we have a lot of freedoms—and for that I am thankful, but we must realize that we are not a perfect country (although, I don't think one certain individual's idea of a perfect country would appease every other individual).
The point is: we have a lot of improvements to make. We are far from perfect. We cannot get caught in a standstill, we must not become (or stay) complacent.
We must continue to move forward and seek our idea of the best country.
A country where kids are not getting shot by a gunman in their schools.
A country where children, little impressionable human beings, are not locked up in cages, separated from their families—the ones who raised them and played a part in shaping who they are.
Our political parties are so polarized we often forget the goals we strive for in terms of some political issues are the same. We all want school shootings to end. We spend so much time hating each other, we forget to love and protect our own children.
It's time for action. It's time for rebellion.
If we all stand up, if we set aside our differences, we could really do something amazing—we could save the lives of children. Stop muffling the screams with your political banter. Do not be complacent—think, speak, act.
The time is now.
