I want to preface this by saying that I am not a Florida State University student, but I have many friends who are. All shootings are tragic and devastating, but the one that took place on April 17 hit so close to home that it has shaken me and left me heartbroken like no other.
I’ve walked around the FSU-Tallahassee campus, even dreamt of going there. I’ve laughed with friends in those halls, wandered the streets of Tallahassee, and met so many wonderful people who go to that school. In many ways, this hits closer to home than the shooting in Moultrie, my hometown, several years ago.
I cannot express how sorry I am to anyone who had to fear for their lives that day. I’m sorry for anyone who had to fear for the lives of their loved ones that day. I’m sorry for anyone who lost someone—be them a friend, classmate, or even just a fellow student they passed in the hall. Their lives matter.
I’m sorry to anyone who was hurt and injured, and I hope they all recover not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, and spiritually, so that long after the wounds are healed, they never have to feel that fear or pain again. Their lives matter.
I’m sorry that we live in a country where far too many students, faculty, and staff members must be subjected to this level of fear and pain, so suddenly and so violently. We deserve better than this. We deserve better than to just hear “thoughts and prayers” from our leaders and then be expected to just move on. We deserve better than just kind words and empathy. We deserve to know it will never happen again.
Since I was little, I’ve had nightmares about a shooting happening at my school, but for FSU, it was not a nightmare—it was real. I can never fully comprehend the pain and emotions they are feeling in the aftermath, but I can try. The only way things will get better is if we try.
I also can’t help but think the same thing so many others at ABAC were thinking that day: Are we next? How long until we have to hide and text our loved ones… because it’s always “it can’t happen here,” but time and time again, it happens.
The news broke while my friends and I were in class. It just as easily could have been my friends at FSU seeing us frantically posting while hiding. It could have been my friends from Kennesaw receiving the “No matter what happens, I love you,” text.
Please, just because we were safe this time, don’t ignore what happened. In honor of those who lost their lives, their classmates, their innocence, and their ability to ever truly feel safe again, don’t forget, and don’t stay silent. We deserve better. They deserve better. You deserve better.
We’ve seen this same story dozens of times. Last year at the University of Georgia, in Uvalde, in Parkland, Columbine, and Sandy Hook. Indifference is another form of violence, and we must end indifference to prevent what happened that day from ever happening again.
We saw the worst of us that day. For some, it was an evil that cut our already short time we have together even shorter; for others, it was an evil they’ll be forced to remember and reckon with for the rest of their lives. But please, do not let it be an evil that goes unnoticed, and do not let the separate evil of indifference go unpunished.
The value of life, the sanctity of living, the one thing we all have in common existed far before the Constitution was written and amended. It existed far before the creation of our nation and will exist far long after its demise. It existed far before the first rifle was put together, far before the Second Amendment was ratified and interpreted. It exists now and it will exist forever. While a life may be taken, its value will never go away.
It’s often in the worst of times that we will see the best of each other—in how we care for one another and how we help each other heal.
What happened at FSU matters. But please remember, the kindness and community we are seeing matters—even acts as small as a hug, a call, or giving someone food. It matters just as much.
I wish peace for us all.