Ask yourself for one moment, was seventeen minutes enough? National Walkout Day lasted for seventeen minutes, a mere 1020 seconds. In the timespan of a life, seventeen minutes is not even a blink, and still we stood outside protesting to our peers and colleagues for just that, seventeen fucking minutes. The milieu was nowhere near what I expected it to be; moreover, I felt as if we could have been doing more to raise awareness on this horrendous epidemic that we as a country have faced for what seems an eternity now. As I stood there eager to discuss the issue of gun control in America, or how my college colleagues might have felt about the laws that allowed for this to happen, I was underwhelmed. You see, though we did in fact discuss these issue, it was not without poking and prodding did I get the discussion going. We went outside of our class aware of the time we were given to discuss this important issue, and the air around us still seemed no different then it was before we entered class. Students walked on with their cell phones in hand, almost too absorbed within their own humanity to be concerned for any others. I realized in this moment that our society does not have an issue with gun control, it has an issue with awareness. We were told to give this time to a bigger cause, to discuss things that would create a spark within us and allow for discussions on ways to approach indifference. To my dismay, that was not the discussion that happened in totality. We briefly covered the issue of gun control, whilst others found it more appealing to discuss their own personal issues in life. We learned the word egocentric in reading class last chapter and I have the perfect use for it now: Those that I surround myself with are egocentric, but not anymore so than I am. I understand the allure of being wrapped up in oneself almost too well, so it was a shock to myself when I felt so passionately about the discussion I had imagined we would take part in. As I stood there examining my surroundings, listening in on conversations taking part around me like a wallflower ingesting its nutrients for the day, I could not help but feel a sense of humbling come about within me. I was there, live, and in person. I was capable of discussing these things and I think that is what made me want to so badly. I wanted to discuss and speak out for those seventeen young souls we lost on February 14th this year. These were but young souls that had yet to fully blossom, and were not wilted of personal choice, but from another taking out their personal strife upon them. To say we do not have an issue with gun control was a bit premature of me, but I do feel as if the main issue before that is the issue of self awareness and awareness of others around us. Last year when the show “13 Reasons Why” came out, the world was a buzz with discussion on mental wellness and what we could do to help those that were affected by it. Why is it that when a show depictates a suicide we all stop and discuss, but when seventeen innocent souls get gunned down in a school we only hear a murmur of discussion? I feel it speaks volumes to our lack of awareness in our society. Would we have discussed mental awareness so in depth had it been a mass suicide rather than a show that almost in a way glamorized mental illness and suicide? Personally, I think not. Our society cares more about the allure of Hollywood than the safety of our children. We have become the proverbial dog, loudly barking but never biting. We discuss enough to passive our own discomfort, but once past that point we do not care. So in reference to my first question of, “Was seventeen minutes enough?” It was not, because we are no better or further along after it, and we will not be until we step away from our egocentric behaviors and start investing in each others wellness as a society rather than our own.
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This was written as a response to the National Walk Out Day that took place on March 14th, 2018. I was tasked with writing a response to the events of that day for a class and I wanted to post it here for others to read as well. - Martin
