Today I started my morning routine just like any other day. Wake up, shower, check the news headlines quickly before class: “Ohio gunman shoots up high school, many injured,” “Sheriff deputy kills six.” In all seriousness, I have literally lost count of how many times I have sat down to read the headlines and read that some @#$%ing crybaby shot up his school.
Call me uninformed, but I have not read a single article about a school outside of America being shot up: Stabbings, drugs, fights, sexual misconduct: yes. Shooting a dozen &*%$ing people: no. At the risk of sounding undereducated and uncivilized…WHAT THE %@#$ IS GOING ON?!
Thirty-five years ago, parents didn’t worry about their kids walking down the street to their buddy’s house, or school or the grocery store. No, 35 years ago the biggest worry was if your child was smoking cigarettes or fiddling around with their boyfriend or girlfriend. Today, well, a child can’t even feel safe in a classroom. @#$% the cigarettes, how do you explain the fact that the new “hot fad” is a @#$%ing bullet proof vest? Jesus, this is a problem.
If there is one person that does not realize how messed up the situation is, they deserve to be punched in the head. We argue about the future, the exhaust pipes of our SUVs, the nitrogen of our dairies, the ice/water ratio in our oceans and not feeding people all over the whole wide world. We argue all of this shit as our children are dying in the @#$%ing classroom. Am I angry about the fact that this keeps happening? What the @#$% do you think?
Blame it on video games, Marilyn Manson, TV, punk rock, shit, blame it on anything you want .you’re wrong. Unless you step back and blame each and every one of us. Each and every person that goes through each day, reading the newspaper and hoping things will change without doing anything more than hoping … Blame it on them.
I can’t tell you what to do. That’s not the point of this. I can, however, ask you to open your eyes and tell you that, given the opportunity to help right this @#$%ed up situation (take your pick of them), take the opportunity to make a difference. Educate yourself, be informed, do something more than sit idly in blind pacifism.
There is not a thesis to this. There is no reasoning I could conjure up to possibly try to influence anybody’s thoughts. There should be no reason any thoughts need swaying. If you are a human being and you have a @#$%ing pulse, you should realize there are things out there (right outside your doorstep) that need change.
What can we do, you ask? That’s a good question. The one thing I have concluded is this: educate yourself, be aware and, most importantly, contribute. Don’t fulfill each day simply taking your shower and reading headlines.
Jason Oliver is an animal science senior.