I have been on this Earth for almost 18 years now. In those years I have seen tragedies at the following places, Sandy Hook, University of Virginia, a movie theater in Colorado, a church in Charleston, a bar in Florida, a music festival in Las Vegas, Parkland, Myrtle Beach, Virginia Beach, and the one that hits closest to home, a shooting at UNC-Charlotte. There have been so many more but those are the ones that I can remember right at this moment. I can spit off 10 mass shootings that have happened in my lifetime and I am not even an adult yet.

I remember hearing about Sandy Hook. I was in sixth grade and it terrified me to even think about going to school. Think about that, an eleven-year-old who didn't just want it to be summer time so I didn't have to do homework but wanted school to be out so I wouldn't have to worry about if that would happen at my school today. I still find myself nervous to go anywhere that I'm not completely familiar with. I look for where the doors are around me and I have a plan for every classroom I am in. I am incredibly cautious when I am walking in large crowds and I notice when someone isn't acting like everyone else. I get jumpy when someone I don't know reaches into their coat. I can't so much as go to a concert without worrying about the quickest way to get out if I need to. I shouldn't have to worry about this. I shouldn't have to think about what I would say to my family and best friends if I only had 5 minutes to text them and tell them what is happening and possibly saying goodbye for the last time. But I do. I do have to have an escape plan in every room I enter, I do have to know what I would say and to who, I do have to worry about the guy walking on the opposite side of the street who looks somewhat suspicious. I am 17 years old and I have to think of how I would text my family saying I might not make it home after my English class because there is someone on campus with a gun. I have to think about what would happen if someone starts shooting while I am at a concert with my best friends. I can't so much as go to church without stressing the whole time.

We have to do better. This isn't a pro-gun/anti-gun blog. This is a pro-making it back home blog. This is anti-shooting people because I disagree with them or what they believe. This is pro-tolerance. We have accepted that these things happen, but we aren't doing anything to change it. I don't know how to fix this, but I know what has happened should not be normal. Us blaming each other's beliefs is not how we fix this. We have normalized talking about "Today's Mass Shooting". Isn't it crazy that we have to say "Today's" when talking about mass shootings? Stop accepting hate. Stop blaming each other. Stop making this normal.