Sick. Of. This.

I try to even out my posts so that if I have posted negative stuff recently, I balance it with something positive. It's hard to do that today. As many people are, I am still very bothered about the most recent school shooting in the US, and all of the ones that have happened in the last many years. Every time it happens, I like to think more people will be called to action, but it's never enough to get anything to change. We hear the same arguments on both sides and nothing changes. I do hope that these kids and all survivors from these incidents will continue to be more vocal and involved so that something might actually change this tine.

These shootings bother me because I am a human being and I feel bad for those that have to live through these senseless tragedies. They bother me because I am going to be a mother and I am going to have to worry when my child eventually attends a school in the US and I will have to drop them off wondering what could happen to them. These incidents bother me because I am a teacher, and using your body as a shield to protect your students is not, and should not, be in the job description. 

Maybe all politicians should have to spend a day or more with a survivor or the surviving family members a victim has left behind, and hear about the horror they've had to live through and how it still affects them every day. Maybe then it would be easier to say, "No thanks" to that extra donation from the NRA, and maybe then they'd realize, oh yeah, this should have been a huge priority a long time ago. And, maybe people that want to own guns should also have to do the same. They should have to talk to real victims of gun violence one-on-one, so they have to think about the real consequences of what more guns circulating in our society lead to. Try explaining to someone who's had to bury their child or who can no longer feel from the waist down why your right to own a gun is more important than their rights.

I just honestly don't understand people's priorities at this point when it is crystal clear that more regulations on gun ownership and usage would at least lessen the problem - just like they have done in so many other developed countries and had positive results.  It is also painfully obvious that mental health is a big problem in the US, and cutting healthcare and services to the people that need them isn't going to make it any better. There is no reason that a teen who showed many obvious warning signs in advance of the incident should have had such easy access to many guns, let alone one. It just really disgusts me that people who have the power to do something continue to let this happen over and over again.  Literally every time this happens, The Onion reposts the same article, changing only a few minor lines. It remains true every time, disappointingly. 

This is not a situation that has no solution. There are infinite possible solutions, and many different models that we could try, and the US has yet to try one. I'm sick of excuses and arguments. I'm sick of thoughts and prayers. The only thing I want to see now is action. Anything less isn't good enough. Clearly, not acting has yielded continuous shootings. At this point, everyone in charge who has so far been unwilling to act in some way should be replaced with those willing to try something. Even for those who think gun control is not the answer; fine then, what's your plan for mental health or school safety or some other angle? If you don't have a possible plan or solution? Get out, then. Make room for people that have a backbone. I'm sick of this.