Seventeen

CW: school shootings

My niece turned seventeen today. She’s fabulous, and I wish her the happiest of birthdays, of course, but her turning seventeen got me to thinking about when I was seventeen. Not quite three months after my seventeenth birthday, in the spring of 1999, two students went into Columbine High School and killed thirteen others. I still remember sitting in my pre-calculus class on that April day, watching live footage (on the tv mounted on the classroom wall) of students running out of their high school just a couple of states away. I was shocked–I’d never considered the possibility that anything like that could happen at a school. And I couldn’t fathom what would motivate someone to do something so horrible.

Just this week, twenty-three years later, in Uvalde, TX, nineteen fourth graders and two teachers were killed in their school, and I still have no idea what might cause someone to choose to do something so horrifying. But here’s what I do know: WE’VE GOT TO STOP SEEING EACH OTHER AS ENEMIES. We have to stop dehumanizing each other because I feel like only someone who sees others as less than human would be able to indiscriminately end the lives of so many.

I’m not here to debate toxic masculinity, or gun control, or anything else that might be seen as a cause or solution to the issue of mass shootings in the United States. What I’m saying is that there’s no way we can keep things like this from happening again, or even keep American society from totally crumbling, until we start listening to each other and working together and seeing people, even people we disagree with, as humans. And until we start electing more people who are willing to listen to each other and work together and see people, even people they disagree with, as humans.

Look for the humanity in others, and recognize that even if someone believes differently than you do, they came to those beliefs for some reason. It could be that the beliefs were handed down from previous generations and never questioned, or it could be a perception that some right or privilege is being taken away, or it could even be as simple as a fear of something unknown or misunderstood. But if we have any hope of creating a society that cares for one another, we have to start approaching each other with love. I’m begging everyone on every possible side of every issue to stop looking for reasons to hate each other and, instead, look for ways to connect. It’s not going to be easy, but I believe it’s the only thing that can save us from ourselves.