Kiyomi Kishaba
Opinion Editor
My phone buzzed: Did you hear about Santa Clarita?
No, what about it?
I knew what the answer was.
Another shooting.
I felt the familiar pit of anger and sadness form in the bottom of my stomach. I googled Santa Clarita shooting and found familiar images of parents and children clutching each other with tears rolling down their faces. Headlines of school shooting and two dead, three injured ran across the webpage. The feeling of hopelessness hovered like a rain cloud over it all.
My phone buzzed: I had two panic attacks last weekend at the music festival because I thought it was going to get shot up. I had to make exit plans in my head to calm myself down.
How is this the world we live in?
This shouldn’t still be a conversation. I shouldn’t have to sit and write this article with tears in my eyes, thinking about the possibility of an active shooter on our campus. But it is, and I am.
I may be preaching to the choir here, but we need gun control. Children are dying. Parents are grieving, mourning, breaking; how much more does it take to make a change?
I struggle having conversations about gun control with people who disagree with me. I see my argument as common sense, and when they rebut I have little argument besides “you’re wrong.” Apparently some people value owning guns over the lives of children.
I know when I put it like that I’m villainizing gun owners as “others,” which really doesn’t help the situation. But what else can I do? I’m a college student who finds the time to go to the occasional activist march, and sometimes posts about politics on her Instagram story. I feel helpless, like I’m too small to make any impact on the real problem. And maybe I am.
I will be the first to admit I distance myself from people who hold conservative opinions, or at least avoid talking about touchy subjects with them. But I’m realizing that if we want to change the frustrating reality that we live in, we’re going to have to communicate with each other.
This is not a new idea. But I believe we need to rejuvenate the effort to reach across the imaginary divide between political parties and listen. I alone can’t fix the problem with angry posts on Instagram, so I need to swallow my pride a little and be open minded to what others have to say.
But not too open minded, because children are dying.
I invite you all to consider what I’ve said, and generate your own thoughts about the situation and about what needs to be done. If you feel inspired to write about your stance or would like to respond to this article, I encourage you to email mast@plu.edu with your thoughts. The Mast will consider your writing for publication in the Opinion section.
