As I lounge on my couch, in my comfy clothes, legs stretched out on my husband’s lap; I am weary while watching the news. I am exhausted, I am heartbroken, I am disgusted, I am sickened, I am tired of this world that we live in, what in the world has happened to humankind?
We are, without a doubt, on a dangerous path. We seem to be numb, we are gunning each other down in mass shootings, and we do not even blink an eye, the ocean is devouring our coasts with each passing storm, we keep denying climate change. Are we ever going to wake up from this zombie like state, we are truly the walking dead.
I can’t stomach another story like the one out of Oregon this week. I can’t bear to see more innocent lives taken; we have got to do something and do it now. If I hear another person tell me that, “Guns don’t kill people, people kill people” I will scream. Yes, guns do kill people, without a gun you can’t kill 9 people, or 13 people or 15 people in less than 15 minutes. Guns are utterly destructive and give mankind entirely too much power. They give the kind of power that many don’t have any business having, and they give us the kind of power many don’t know what to do with.
I’m sick of death, I’m sick of checking for the exit signs at movie theaters, I’m sick of my children being worried when they have a lock down drill at school. I’m sick of people thinking more guns are the answer and I’m truly sick and tired of the hatefulness that is spreading through this country like a plague.
Whether you are talking about religion, abortion, gun rights, women’s rights, climate change, politics (who am I kidding, all of these are political topics these days), you better prepare for some nasty dialogue. We, as a country, have become so polarized on all of the mentioned topics that the tension can be felt spreading itself like a thick blanket over our nation. The air is ripe with it; you can hardly breathe. I feel like I am suffocating under the weight of hate, intolerance, ignorance, and fear. People are being ruled by fear and that is what is driving this machine of intolerance that is causing all of this hatefulness. Fear is a powerful thing, one that can easily control the masses, and I fear that is what is happening right now.
I will tell you what I fear. I fear that my children will continue to grow up in a world where hate overshadows love, a world where intolerance is justified, a world where two people who have different views can’t sit down and have a civil discussion.
I want there to be change, there has to be. Something has got to change; we cannot keep living in a world where we do not even look up from our phones, laptops, and so on. when we hear of another mass shooting. We cannot continue to become numb to the horrors of the world. We need to be the change, we need to snuff out the fear, and be the good in the world so that our children will have a chance to live beautiful, happy lives filled with feeling and without fear.
