Reflections on the Shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School
by Fatimata Cham
I was in my bedroom completing my homework when I got a notification on my phone that there was a shooting in Florida. My initial thought was “Another one. Another shooting. Another life taken.”
As I read the article, I quickly learned that 17 people lost their lives and that this was a shooting that had occurred in a high school. A high school. I was scared because it could have been anybody’s school.
These kids showed up to school in the morning thinking that it was going to be a normal day of school. They went to school that morning to practice their American right- a right to an education. Education something that is vital to success in America.
But instead they had to deal with someone who woke up that morning and was planning to shoot up a school. It sent chills down my spine. To think that this 19 year old was allowed to own a gun!
When it happened in Sandy Hook Elementary ,and those children who are the same age as my younger brother lost their lives, I knew this country had a problem. When Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Trayvon Martin lost their lives I knew this country had a problem. When there was a mass shooting at a concert and at a nightclub, and at a movie theater, and at a church, I knew this country had a problem. When teenagers my age lost their lives, I knew we had a problem. That problem is gun control.
The policies that we have in place are what allowed this 19 year old to walk into Stoneman Douglas High School that afternoon. In order for us to move forward as country we have to think about the innocent lives that have been taken.
This is not just about guns it is about humanity.
With that I leave you with a poem I titled Wonders:
In the little nook of books
There you’ll find them;
In the opening of the window
Whilst the sun setting
Leaves changing color
There you’ll find them;
In the swaying of the trees
In each snowflake falling
In the beating of a broken child’s heart
There you’ll find them;
At the sound of a mother’s scream
While giving birth to
La Vie
There you’ll find them;
The dust being swept away
Mirrors being wiped
Someone crying for help
There you’ll find them;
When he gets his first report card
His first kiss
When he finds love
When he gets married
Has Children
Grows old
Sitting in his rocking chair
Reading a book
In the little nook
He’s reading the story of them,
They are the shooting stars in the sky
They are the planets orbiting the sun
They are my friend,
They are you,
A wonder.
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