Feb. 14, 2018 around 2:21 p.m. gunfire echoed across Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Now, six years later, nearly 350 school shootings have occurred in 2023 with gun violence in schools rising. 

     Lockdown drills are required to occur twice a year, but with school shootings happening more and more with the same amount of drills, it doesn’t feel as much of a threat anymore. The mindset that “it is what it is” or “whatever happens, happens” has a heavy effect on the mental health and mindset when it comes to these serious topics. 

     With such a high risk of school shootings it doesn’t feel like surprising news when “School shooting” is on the headlines, which is almost more horrifying than the thought of a possibility of it happening. Even though there has already been a bomb threat, the possibility of such a crime is almost expected to happen.

     Society has lost sight of the importance of safety and peace, but instead focuses on the current topics that are quick such as Taylor Swift appearing for 57 seconds at the Super Bowl instead of the fact that innocent children and educators are under the threat of death every morning they wake up. The public has lost itself in trying to ignore the truth of violence involving kids by looking at useless entertainment or political debates that have been argued time and time again. 

     The mindset that “it will never happen to me” is destructive and selfish, especially when change can be made. The same could be said for any world problem such as lack of education in developing countries, poverty, or violence. Instead of sitting like ducks waiting for the action that could come, we should be trying to beat the source and put a stop. This requires action, instead of avoiding or adding to a world full of problems, stand up and help solve them. 

     The problem is, what action is there to take? Any sort of solution is complex with consequences, requiring money, time, and skill. Preparing your average police man to take down a mentally ill person with an automatic rifle takes extensive programs and only few people can handle the high pressured situations. A result to this is that in the end, there is no one solution that can perfectly fix everything. Instead it has to be a series of decisions that will take time, money, effort, and people to stop school shootings.