Aren't We Exhausted?

127 Dead in Suicide Bombings and Shootings Across Paris

Mizzou's Black Students Cope with Fear Spawned by Death Threats

Six-month-old Shot on Cleveland's East Side

Anonymous Writer Warns John Carroll With Threatening Letters

Headline after headline after headline have come across my newsfeeds about tragedy, destruction and death. Every time I open a web page or a social media site or run into a friend, I get another story about how people have been killed or threatened and for no reason other than because someone didn't like something that they were doing or how they were living their life.

In Paris, dozens of people were killed by radical jihadists. In the US, students in universities have been forced to deal with death threats. Death. Threats. All because they are demanding freedom from racism and discrimination. Kids and adults are being shot all over Cleveland because of continued violence from drugs, gangs, poverty, and much more. And at my alma mater. The gorgeous university I was so proud to graduate from, some psychotic person is distributing threatening letters warning anyone who teaches evolution, supports LGBTQ persons or is an LGBTQ person that they are going to hell and will be punished.

And here we are all arguing about a fucking red cup with overpriced coffee in it.

Are we tired of the violence yet? Are we exhausted at the perpetual loss of life from school shootings and bombings and violence and discrimination all aimed at people simply because they are different?

From what I see from quite a few people it seems like no, no we aren't.

Obviously France should've closed their borders to the thousand upon thousands of people fleeing their countries because they were obviously the ones who blew people up and shot them in cold blood. Why offer sanctuary to people desperate to start over and find a new home? Why think that you can go to a concert and not worry about being killed?

Fleeing your country with nowhere else to go? Want to go enjoy an evening out and not be shot? Too damn bad. You're different.


Obviously teachers should carry guns at schools both elementary and university alike. Why expect schools to be a place of safety and security?

Oh. You want to learn and teach without fear of being shot? Too bad. I don't like what your teaching/learning.

Obviously any LGBTQ person should just expect to be told that being gay is a sickness. You can fix it.

Oh. You want to get married, raise kids, and not have anyone second guess you being a fit parent or a person worthy of equal rights and treatment? Too bad. You're different.

Obviously minorities should just expect to be treated like second class citizens.

Oh its 2015 and you thought we we're past racism? Too bad. You're different.

When the hell are we going to stop blaming people for these horrible things that happen to them? When are we going to stand up as a community of people and say "Stop. This is wrong."?

When for the love of God are we going to say "Religion is not an excuse to kill people or treat them like shit."

God told us to love our neighbor. God told us love is the greatest gift of all. God told us that we have a responsibility to clothe the naked, feed the hungry, house the homeless.

So shut the fuck up about how you are treating people like shit because that's what God says.

We have a responsibility now to stop this. We have to act and make all of this horror and death turn into something beautiful. We have to stand together.

Nothing is going to change unless we put aside these petty differences and work as a family of equals.

You think that Millennials don't care about what's going on in the world? You think that we just want to take our Instagrams and bury our head in the sand? You think that we are all bleeding heart liberals with no knowledge of how the world works? That's not it.

We hate this. We hate the world we grew up in. We hate the world that we are having to raise kids in. We're done being passive. So stop thinking that we whitewash everything with shades of peace and happiness.

And for the love of God, look at your life and what you are doing and how you are treating people and ask yourself: "If I was shot tomorrow at a soccer game, would I be proud of the way I've lived?"