I Heard There Was Another Shooting
I heard there was another shooting
I shrugged it off
I didn't let the prospect of death conflict with my daily routine
See, I had places to be
My thoughts were already booked

I heard there was another shooting
My mother told me it was a truly awful shooting
So I unplugged my desensitized ears
I opened my blurred eyes, exhausted from over-scheduled adolesence
I turned on the panicked voices running rampant on the television screen
And all at once my laundry list evaporated
In an instant my vision cleared and all I could see was a broken mother
A pile of backpacks left behind
A white man in a pristine suit
Attempting to convince a crippled country that
Nothing could have been done

No law, no prayer, no godforsaken miracle could have prevented this truly awful shooting
For truly awful shootings have plagued this nation, numbing our people even further, spreading the
Contagion of cynicism
I heard there was another shooting
Our lawmakers say it was inevitable
Classmates hiding under desks, watching as their teacher was gunned down, sacrificing his own life for their safety
This was inevitable
Hundreds of students forced to walk out of their school, arms shaking above their heads, the weapons of the SWAT team piercing their backs
This was inevitable
The trauma and tears of the thousands affected by this tragedy was inevitable
Seventeen lives were lost, but countless hearts were broken

I heard there was another shooting
It defiled the day of love
I heard there was another shooting
Seventeen was the number
Seventeen? That's less than last time, isn't it?

It's not fifty-eight country music lovers in Vegas
Not forty-nine prideful party goers in Orlando
Not twenty-six elementary school students, imaginative and curious six year olds in Newtown
This is just another shooting, one i heard on the news on Valentines Day
One that our hyperactive news cycle will abandon a week later

This is just another shooting that our leaders, our professional hypocrites, our thoughtful representatives who pray for our children will hide behind their backs, anticipating their constituents will soon forget

It was just another shooting
Just like the others I have grown up with
It is another name and number and date stamped on to the merciless cycle
Columbine
Virginia Tech
Aurora
Sandy Hook'
Pulse
Vegas
Stoneman Douglass
I heard there was another shooting
But this time I unplugged my ears, I cleared my eyes
This time I listened to the cries
To the "Thoughts and Prayers"
This time I wept alongside my fallen Flo
ridian Brethren
This time I too was frightened
I was damn petrified
Knowing someday our lockdown cover drills may no longer be drills

This time I was exhausted
This time I was grieving not only the lives of the fallen, but the hope that this could be anything more than just another shooting
This time in my seventeen year old mind I made a decision
Enough is Enough

This time I stood up after wiping my tears
This time I found those who were just as enraged, as frightened, as exhausted as I
This time we held each other up
This time we spoke up
This time we rose up
This time we refused to acknowledge nothing could be done
This time we decided to be leaders, for our leaders have chosen to act as children
This time we educated ourselves
This time we opened our ears to contradicting viewpoints, arming ourselves with perspective
This time our battle was not fending off bullets but fiercely articulating our story, our beliefs
This is out fight, our weapons are our voices
Our power is in our numbers, out unity, our message, one that is caramelized in righteousness
We are the peaceful soldiers
We will not let our age be a blockade
We are told we are the leaders of tomorrow
But it seems they need us now

To Alyssa, to Scott, to Martin, to Nicholas, to Aaron, to Jaimie and Chris, to Luke and to Cara, to Gina and to Joaquin, to Alaina and Meadow, to Helena, to Alex, to Carmen and to Peter
A monster stole your lives this past Valentines Day
He demolished the day of love
But there is power in the peaceful soldiers
In the seventeen year old fighters
In the children who have chosen to rise up
Our unity will restore hope to this cynical nation
We will strive to mend the wounds his bullets created
We will demand and achieve a safer future
We will redefine love
We will not let this be just another shooting
It will be a damn revolution