It felt like any other Wednesday. We all woke up and went to school with an extra bounce in our step thanks to the extra hour or two of sleep due to late start. I went to all my classes, slept through some lectures (kidding), and rolled my eyes at all of the lovey dovey Valentines Day spectacles. I ate a PB & J sandwich during fifth period while watching the Wolfcast, and sat and joked with my friends during lunch. I remember dreading the track workout after school. Before I knew it, my day was over; it was a day like any other. But it wasn’t for everyone.

I cannot even begin to imagine going through that day once more, this time cut short by the sounds of bullets and screams from the hallway. This day of love, a celebration of appreciation for one another completely ruined. These innocent students—some the same age as myself—were murdered on February 14, 2018. A school is supposed to be a place of creativity, freedom, learning, and discovery. We students should be worried about getting a bad test grade, messing up on our Spanish oral, and forgetting a homework assignment. Not worried in the morning that this day at school will be our very last.

The tragedy in Parkland, Florida is not the first shooting that has finally raised awareness for this issue of gun violence—it is the very last straw. Our government should not be scared of making the wrong move; there is no worse move than neglecting the problem entirely even though we know that this problem will only worsen with a lack of action. I don’t want to see another list of names when I open up a browser on the LA Times. Another story of a lethal weapon in the hands of someone who should not be allowed to go anywhere near that weapon. Another tragedy that should never have happened. Let’s finally begin to do something about it.