Open Your Eyes

I have friends and family. I play sports and do homework. I study for tests and have countless sleepless nights. I shouldn't have to worry about my school being shot up. I shouldn't have to worry about some sociopath grabbing an ar-15 and waltzing into my school. I am a thirteen year old girl, who does her homework, who breakdowns for tests, who gets anxious about MCAS.

I should be worried about the outcome of my next soccer game not the fact that I could die any day at the bullet of a gun. We call attention to the Parkland shooting but we forget about the violence in Chicago. We can do something about it, yet here we sit.

I'm scared. I'm scared because speaking out like this has repercussions. I'm scared because what if I'm next? I want to live to go through crushes and heart breaks, school dances and football games. I want to live to get to high school and to get to college. But there's this constant fear in my mind of getting shot up. this country we live in? America? Has a serious gun problem. Open your eyes. And while you may not like it, we do. They're teaching kindergarteners for a school shooting. They want to arm teachers. The only thing you should be arming teachers with is knowledge and maybe a few textbooks for learning purposes. They aren't meant to hold a pistol to someone's head. They are there for support. They are the trees and roots of education.

But no, arm them. they don't have any gun experience? That's okay. Neither does a shooter. I want to live to make it to tomorrow. I don't want to be another statistic in the news. I want to be me. A thirteen year old girl, who's unafraid. But here I am. Sitting and waiting and close to crying. Because what if I'm next? What if your daughter or son was in the parkland shooting? Would you still be all for guns? Protect us, the future, not your guns. Not your AR-15's. We're scared, can't you tell? One day, it might just be us.