I have been never one to believe in superstitions, but just about a month ago, on Friday the 13^th, my perspective changed on many things. Aspen High students gathered in the morning to participate in a moment of silence for the one year anniversary of the Sandy Hook shooting where 20 kids and 6 adults were tragically killed one winter morning, and in the afternoon, a senior at Arapahoe High school in Denver, opened fire on the school leaving one girl for dead before taking his own life.

Students of Arapahoe High mourn with each other as they try to understand why someone would do such an abhorrent, horrible thing. Every student in America needs to realize that in order to prevent these school shootings, the answer isn’t just about making laws on gun control; the answer is to create a community of acceptance.

It goes without saying that opening fire on a school because you have been bullied or ostracized is never the answer, but as students who are fortunate enough to go to school and have someone to sit with at lunch, we need to realize that bullying is a pressing issue in society that NEEDS to stop.

Put yourself in the shoes of “Student A.” Student A is a junior in high school who has been in the school district since kindergarten. Even after spending 12 years with the same students, Student A comes to school without being talked to once. Imagine going six hours everyday without being spoken to. Student A experiences something much larger than bullying; he experiences invisibility. After student A loses all hopes in life, he starts to plot to end things, until Student B comes a long. Little does Student B know that just because he said hi to Student A in the hallways, he saved his life.

Just because that gothic dressed kid in the corner with his head buried in a book looks scary, inside he could be a student just yearning to be accepted by someone. It won’t kill us to just invite someone we see sitting alone at lunch to sit with us, or to smile at someone in the hallway. I believe that all of us will be surprised at how good we will feel after. Nothing is more satisfying then the smile that grows on that kid’s face when you acknowledge them when no one else does.

The solution to putting an end to this shunning isn’t for students to stop being themselves no matter how “weird” they may be; the solution is for ignorant students to acknowledge that if we continue to not accept everyone, our world will be filled with pompous self-centered people and no creativity from the “weird” people who are ignored and too scared to speak up.

So when we reflect upon these several shootings that have occurred in communities all around us, we must all learn to accept people for who they are and embrace the fact that we live in a society where people are different. As students at AHS, its in our ability to make Aspen the headline of what a real community should look like.