Seven school shootings in the first fourteen school days of 2014. Take a minute to think about that. That’s a school shooting every other day. If this continues for the rest of 2014, there would be approximately 182 school shootings in only one year’s time.Twenty-eight was the disturbing number of shootings that happened at schools in 2013; the possibility that the number could get even higher, maybe even into triple digits, is the most frightening thing that I have heard in a long time.

 To me, what is even more disquieting than the statistics is how normalized school shootings have become. Out of seven school shootings in fourteen days, I was only aware of one. When the Sandy Hook shooting took place in 2012, it was the biggest news story for weeks. Now, school shootings are occurring at an alarming rate, and no one appears to be shaken. When reading about shootings such as The Columbine school shooting in 1999, people reacted strongly. Now it seems we take note of it, continue reading, then move on to our daily activities — as if shootings in schools were part of the routine.

Normalizing school shootings is the worst possible thing that our society can do. Kids coming into a school with guns and trying to take the lives of themselves and other people is NOT ordinary, nor should it be treated as if it is. Thirteen-year-olds carrying guns to school isn’t something our society should accept; it is something we should be doing everything in our power to stop.

 The first school shooting of 2014 took place in Tennessee on January 9th, and the next followed soon after that on January 13th in Connecticut. There were more after that on the 14th in New Mexico,  the 17th in Pennsylvania,  the 20th at Wilden University in Minnesota and two on the 21st, one in California and one in Indiana. These were only the school shootings that actually happened. In the month of January, there have also been ten attempted shootings. So far, school shootings this year have left two dead and eleven injured.

The veracity is that this is crazy. What is so wrong with our society that drives younger people to have this desire to kill and injure others? Is it the pressure that is put on students by school, or by their friends? Whatever it is, we never may know, but it’s something that is outrageous and is definitely not something our country and society should ignore.

As a community, and a school, the best thing we can do to remedy this tragedy is to reach out to anyone and everyone who may be in need of help, friends, or just someone to listen. Don’t be afraid to step out of your “friend group” and smile or say hi to someone alone in the hall or cafeteria, and maybe by doing that we could all save a few lives.