Today there was a shooting at Marysville Pilchuck High School. It is a high school in the town that I lived in up until last year. A few of my friends have teenagers that attend class there. As far as I know, they are all safe.
There’s no confirmed number of victims hurt or dead. The school is locked down, rooms are being cleared one by one, and students and staff are slowly, methodically being evacuated to a nearby church.
Yet another school shooting, and in my own community. It makes my head spin. I can’t imagine being the shooter, a kid so angry that he felt compelled to kill others, and according to reports, himself. I can’t imagine being in a high school cafeteria, eating lunch, then fearing for my own life as a fellow student opens fire. At thirty, I don’t think I could handle something like that. Forget about being able to handle it as a teenager.
There’s something wrong in our society, that this keeps happening.
I listen to the live feed from news stations, and from the local police scanner, to hear what is going on. I check Twitter and news articles. Already the ignorant are losing their minds in the comments. Arm teachers! and This is not a gun control issue, no one is taking my guns away! Because of course violence stops violence. I can’t read the comments. They make me sick to my stomach. How anyone can value gun possession over human life will never cease to amaze me. The campus hasn’t even been thoroughly searched yet and already these crazies must make their love of their guns known.
Yes. More guns. That’ll solve everything.
Ridiculous.
I don’t know what to think of all this, and I feel like I’m moving through a fog as I try to process it. This is how I feel, every time this happens. I can’t get my mind around children that are angry and depressed enough to kill.
We need to do something in this country. That something is definitely not arming schoolteachers. The something is not adding more guns into the mix.
People insist I will change my mind, when I say I will not have children. Days like today are the reason why I will not change my mind. I don’t want to raise a child in a society where kids have to do drills so that they know what to do in the event of a shooting. I don’t want to raise a child in a society that looks into the face of a tragedy like this and cries out for more guns and more violence. I do not live in an environment that I wish to inflict on someone of my own creation. No, I will not do that.
My heart goes out to all of those impacted by the Marysville Pilchuck High School shooting. I know there’s nothing that I can say, write, or do that will take the pain out of today’s tragic events. I hope for a complete recovery for anyone injured, and for any that have passed away, I hope that their families and friends can somehow find comfort.