Child of Columbine

The shooting at Columbine High School happened when I was in the 3rd grade. I was a junior in high school, planning for college, when the shooting at Virginia Tech occurred. The terrorist that attacked a Planned Parenthood did so in the same complex that I do most of my grocery shopping.

I have heard a survivor of the Columbine massacre speak. My schools regularly practiced lock-down drills, where we planned what we would do in the case of an armed individual threatening myself and my classmates. I worked in a junior high where this drill was a regular occurrence in the school year. I remember hearing about the Sandy Hook shooting while planning on going to talk to students, wondering if it would happen here too.

This is my reality and those of my generation. We have never really known a world that is safe and good. We have always had to plan for the likelihood that we would be in a place where someone with a gun would threaten our lives. It has been a matter of ‘when’ rather than a mere possibility. We live in a fundamentally different world now than that which existed thirty years ago.

We are no longer surprised when another massacre occurs because this is the world that you have built. The question, “How could this happen?” is an extremely easy one to answer for us. Our answer will be a resounding, “Of course this happened. What else would you expect?” This is our reality. Gun violence is not abnormal for us.

You have helped to create this world. You believe in the 2nd Amendment so much so that you have allowed children to access weapons designed to destroy mass quantities of life. In your efforts to keep yourself safe, you have created an environment saturated by gunpowder and blood. We are not safe in school, at work, in our places of worship, at home, or anywhere else we can be. Your rights have infringed upon our ability to survive.

You tell us not to politicize events because you want to leave space for families to mourn. You want to delay the conversation because it’s “not the right time”, but I have had enough of children dying so you can maintain your sense of comfort. Blood is on your hands, and you are complicit in murder if you choose to remain silent. This is not a matter in which you can remain neutral.

The time for conversation about your fascination with guns is long overdue. What are you waiting for? When there are lives being taken by gun violence on a daily basis, it is only a matter of time when it hits your town, your school, your home. Why not act now? Why not get involved now?

You keep sending your “thoughts and prayers” but refuse to do anything about it. God will intervene when we do. What do you expect from your Creator: to act without using us? Your faith is dead unless you partner it with deeds. Your prayers are worthless if you do not allow yourself and your actions to be changed.

Your silence is deafening. Your lack of sympathy is disturbing. You are sacrificing an entire generation of individuals because you want to protect your “rights”.

I am beyond angry, and I am tired of being angry. I am pissed that we have done nothing since Columbine to protect our children. I am tired of reading another headline about more students being killed. I have been in a perpetual state of mourning since I was a child.

Call your legislators. Email your local congress men and women. Hug your children. Throw away your guns. Embrace the Cross.

Honestly, we’ve had this conversation before, and nothing has changed. It’s difficult not to feel cynical.

But I believe in you. I believe that you care. I believe that, together, we can make a change.

We will remain angry. We are going to mobilize. We will lead this change.

I ask that you join us, the children of Columbine, in helping to make our world a better place. America has changed since the 2nd Amendment was written. It is time we change as well.

Our children deserve better. Our people deserve better. We must do better.