Yet Another Child
I could be the smartest student
With academic vigor and a keen mind
Scoring high on tests, exams, and quizzes.
But it wouldn’t matter.
I could be a peerless athlete
Training and practicing every day
Determined to get myself a scholarship.
But it wouldn’t matter.
I could be the class clown
Hoping to bring a smile to the faces
Of everyone I come across each day.
But it wouldn’t matter.
I could be a visionary artist
Painting my way through my struggles
Troubles going away with every brushstroke.
But it wouldn’t matter.
I could be a future doctor
A lawyer, an actor, a politician, a soldier
I could save lives or change worlds.
But it wouldn’t matter.
I could be an ordinary kid
Doing what I can to make my life
One that I want to live in.
But it wouldn’t matter.
What I am, is a child
And I am scared for my life
I am scared for my friends, my teachers
And it clearly doesn’t matter.
3,500 children and teens are shot and killed every year, a further 15,000 are injured, and 3 Million are exposed to gun violence. How much more blood must be spilled, how many more bodies must be buried, and how many more children must be scarred before you start to care?
"A good guy with a gun will always stop a bad guy with a gun." Well, 44% of Americans reported living in a gun household. That's a lot of good guys who failed to stop the bad guys from making gun violence the number one cause of death for children and teens in America.
This isn't a war on guns or a war on gun owners. This is a war for innocent lives. For children's lives. The goal is to stop having to bury so many young people every year. Whether you argue for gun education or gun control doesn't matter, but every year thousands of souls join the choir of dead children screaming at you to at least argue for something.
There was a 25% increase in gun violence from 2015 to 2020 and a 43% increase from 20103. Other countries are commenting on it now. To them, America is not a beacon of freedom, but a country filled with child-sized graves. If you are not one of the voices shouting to save the children, then at this point you may as well be complicit in the death of Yet Another Child.