On October 26, 11 were shot dead at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. Shootings like these are becoming less and less surprising every day, and I believe that mental illness is a big problem. According to the Los Angeles Times, at least 59% of the 185 public mass shootings that took place in the United States from 1900 through 2017 were carried out by people who had either been diagnosed with a mental disorder or demonstrated signs of serious mental illness prior to the attack.

Problems like these cannot be fixed immediately. More will happen in the future, but people are quick to find one problem to blame for such a big topic like this when there are many other factors affecting the problem. An example could be the garbage patches in the oceans. These patches are never going to go away anytime in the near future, and telling people to “pick up ur trash” will not magically make the trash go away, we need to find a better alternative.