I am numb. This is the sad fact I came to when I learned of the shooting at the Umpqua Community College in Oregon. I read the news on my phone and, sadly, I immediately felt nothing. No tears, no sharp breath, no pain in my heart, nothing. I only shook my head and went on with my day. I feel horrible now to realize this truth, but unfortunately this is what we face. Mass shootings are so deeply embedded into our experience and expectation as a society that we no longer feel anything of significance in reaction to their occurrence. It’s just another shooting, another group of people dead, and another disturbed individual leaving pain and unanswered questions in their wake.
When I watched President Obama’s press conference on the shooting I finally felt an immense sadness and cried. A part of it was for the victims and their families and friends, yes, but mostly it was because Obama echoed exactly what I was feeling. I have seen him stand in that press room too many times after a shooting. I have seen all his heartbreak, frustration, and vows turned pleas for change go nowhere. Nothing changes and shootings continue at an ever increasing rate. The answer should be simple, and yet our response continuously goes in circles. We become more numb.
I am writing this because I am angry. Why does this continue to happen? Why do we let this continue to happen and not do anything to stop it? I am tired of sitting back, helpless, watching innocent people die while our politicians make excuses and justify their inaction on the subject of gun violence in America. They argue that there is nothing to be done, that gun control won’t work. I sit here and wonder, at what point did our government start giving up in the face of threats to America’s safety? This is the nation that has spent all the time and money in the world defending the freedom of its people against terrorism overseas. We rally in the face of a foreign “other” without question but completely ignore the violence happening in our own backyard. Gun violence is happening everyday in America. That is the real threat to this country. It goes beyond mass shootings by mentally unstable individuals. It is there every time a mother has to bury her child killed by stray gang violence in inner-cities. At what point, with what death do we finally wake up and see the real pain and hurt ripping apart our communities? Every time we refuse to act on gun control we are giving our consent for another shooting to occur. We submit another human life to the never ending carnage.
Human life is precious. It is more valuable than a win for your political party in Congress or the freedom you feel when you hold your gun in your hand. It is beautiful and fragile and worth every smile and friendship and act of love. We have a right to life and it is the pledge of this government to defend it and fight for it. It makes no sense that we fight harder for the rights of an unborn fetus to life than we do for the lives of people already in this world. Our bonds and dreams and lives are now. I am begging you to fight for us. Do not tell us that “stuff happens.” Do not ignore the problem. Listen to the cries of these families and act on simple gun control measures that have the potential to change the course of this narrative. Change can only happen when we admit the problem and create a vision for a different future. We do not have to accept that these deaths are written into our future as a country. We do not have to let these people die for nothing.
I am frustrated and yet at the end of the day I continue to have hope. I believe, even at the most discouraging of times, that change is possible. That my nephews and potential children can exist in a safer world than the one I was born into. But we need more than hope. I am asking as a citizen of this nation for you to take on this issue of gun violence and gun control and please make a change. Please fight for our right to a safe and happy life. We do not have to be bystanders to this issue. We can act to create a safer world. Please take the first step.
Sincerely,
Shannon Suhl
