February 14, 2018: Valentine’s Day, a day of love and of course, just another mass shooting--this time, for Parkland High School. 17 are confirmed dead. 14 who will never graduate high school. 3 selfless Americans who saved the lives of students just trying to get an education. 17 more victims of senseless gun violence. 17 more names added to the long list of the slain in countless numbers of school shootings. It’s 2018. It’s time for a change.

When did it become some sort of sickening game to see who could rack up the most innocent lives and go down as the perpetrator of the worst mass shooting in modern American history? When did it become acceptable to blame countless deaths on mental health and claiming it could not be helped? When did it become okay for parents to have to fear the lives of their children at church? Nightclubs? Diners? Or once again, schools?

We make this mistake of falling into this “post-shooting routine” where we mourn for the victims and their families, maybe a week until it becomes history--something that will never happen again. Until it inevitably does. But for those affected, it does not go away. On the contrary, it is forever etched into their skin. They don’t see “x number of victims” of “perpetrator was A: mentally disturbed B: a loner C: dealing with family issues or D: all of the above”. They see that someone they loved deeply was killed and that nothing will be done about it. There will be no apologies. No reform. Only enough empathy faked in a four-sentence tweet pathetically offering seemingly empty “thought and prayers”. Now, I hate being that person that blames the government for all their problems. The government does a lot to keep the country from crumbling apart. It’s from them that we get the food stamp program, humanitarian aid, and guaranteed rights for the minority. Sure, they aren’t perfect, but it’s the start. But, what drastic changes have we seen from these tragic, heart-wrenching events?

Because let’s face it. “Thoughts and prayers” mean less than nothing to me without any substantial commitments to making sure these disgusting events never happen to anyone. To your constituents and citizens of the “land of the free” to the families and fellow classmates of the 17, to all people who falsely believed that something might actually happen as a result of this atrocity, your nonexistence actions shriek louder than your “thoughts and prayers”.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. So too often are the two sides portrayed as polar opposites who will never be able to come to any sort of consensus. Most anti-gun advocates don’t want to rid of all guns in America and pro-gun advocates want guns for the sole purpose of recreation and a sense of personal protection. Politicians aim to pit us against one another. We cannot let them because, in reality, we all fall somewhere in the middle. All we want is for the victims list to cease growing.

Newtown. Orlando. Oklahoma City. San Bernardino. Boston. Fort Hood. Blacksburg. Littleton. Aurora. Isla Vista. Oak Creek. Charleston. And now, Parkland.

President Donald Trump’s solution is to arm teachers. Even better, why not station tanks permanently in the lunchroom? Arming each student with a minimum of 3 grenades? Yes! Definitely grenades. Instead of comforting survivors pushing for change, millennials are marginalized by politicians who are unaffected by the mass shooting plague. Instead of starting at the root of the problem with common sense gun laws, preposterous solutions have been thrown out to distract from the obvious bribes from the National Rifle Associations. But hey, we have chosen the blade that pierces through our own skin.