What Did You Want to be When You Grew Up?

What did you want to be when you grew up? Did you want to be a pediatrician? So did Arielle Diamond Anderson. Maybe you wanted to do something with business. So did Brian Fraser. Perhaps you knew you wanted to do something regarding the sciences like biology and anthropology. So did Alexandra Verner. I bet you wanted to grow up and experience the best time of your life while in college. So did the 50,000 students of Michigan State University.

I grew up on a playground that was named “Sandy Ground: Where Angels Play.” I played on the swings and went down the slides thinking about how the kids that they were dedicated to never got the chance to play like I did. I grew up watching people grieve over the loss of their family and friends. I questioned how they could possibly get over such a tragedy. I grew up in a middle school where my most profound memory was packing into a tiny closet with 24 other students on December 14, 2012, in case the active shooter decided to take a trip 20 minutes down the street. I spent the rest of my middle school days picking a seat as far away from the door as possible, in hopes I could save myself if my school was the next target.

When our parents didn’t want to go to school when they were younger, the reason may have been because they did not want to take a test that day, or they simply just did not feel like spending six hours a day at a desk. When my generation says they do not want to go to school, a large portion means that they are scared to go. When our parents talk about growing up, they talk about their memories of their first crushes in middle school, the excitement of going to prom in highschool, and experiencing the best time of their lives in college. When I think about my memories growing up thus far, they are shadowed by the shootings that marked each level of schooling. Middle school was Sandy Hook. High school was Marjory Stoneman Douglas. Right when I thought things could change when I hit college, it was Michigan State University.

When Sandy Hook happened, it shook the world. By the time I was in highschool and the Parkland shootings happened, the gutting feeling was there, but the element of shock faded away. Now I am in college, and the Michigan State University shooting was shrugged off after a couple days. People were posting “Pray for MSU '' the day the tragedy happened, and then it was shadowed by public appreciation for Valentines Day in the next 24 hours. I did not hear about the shootings after the day it happened. Hell, I didn't even know the name of the shooter until I looked it up 5 seconds ago. Why? Because school shootings aren’t shocking anymore. They are dismissed with a candlelight vigil and then talked about once a year when it passes the date of tragedy. The talk of better gun control simmers down until another massacre of children happens the next week. Life goes on for everyone else, but it stops for the victims and their families. This vicious cycle is America’s normality. America, this is not normal. 85 mass shootings since the start of the year (56 days since January 1st) is not normal, and it is devastating that as a society we have gotten to the point where it is.

I wanted to be a teacher or veterinarian when I grew up. Ask me that same question now, I simply just want the chance to grow up; to make it out of my college classes alive.