But this shouldn’t have to happen. I shouldn’t have to enter a classroom and note the exits. I shouldn’t have to hide under my desk for 10 minutes so that Congress can stay away from theirs for 10 days. I shouldn’t have to have a police officer show up to my first period because a kid in my class threatened a school shooting. I shouldn’t be nervous when going to the movies, a sporting event, a rally, a party. I know that this isn’t only an American problem I just expect better from the world’s most industrialized country, who sends 50-60% of its federal budget on defense. How about instead of shooting Iraqi and Syrian civilians and bombing starving Yemenis, you defend your own citizens, the next generation.
I shouldn’t have to pin an orange ribbon for the kids killed by gun violence on my backpack. I shouldn’t have to pin a red ribbon for the kids killed by the drug epidemic on my backpack. I shouldn’t have to post a picture of a rose in my Instagram every week for the victims of a preventable terrorist attack. I shouldn’t have to write poetry about how the cops beat the shit out of kids on a regular basis. I shouldn’t have to wear a pink ribbon for all the kids moms who’ve died from breast cancer in one of the richest countries in the world. I shouldn’t have to deal with a president who inspires attacks against my fellow journalists on a regular basis.