North Rockland High School student asks for change
-
- April
- 18
Ashley Dechelfin, 18, a senior at North Rockland High School, shares her views in the aftermath of the Virginia Tech massacre. She is the commentary editor for the high school’s monthly newspaper, the Rambling Raider.
Her article after the break…
It’s six o’clock in the morning and I wake to the sound of my alarm clock, waking me with a serenade of The Fray’s, “How to Save a Life.� I look out my window and my first thought is, “I hope it’s pretty outside; I hope the sun is shining.� I gradually begin to wake up as my body moves, my heart rate quickens, and I find myself awakening mentally to the new day. I never really thought about it, but its times like these that are innocent, times that are taken for granted. I’ve never gone to bed thinking, “What if I don’t wake up in the morning, what if something happens today?� Instead, I go to bed thinking, “How can I get every minute out of tomorrow?� Unfortunately, I need to think about getting every minute out of each day, because realistically, what if there was no tomorrow? Life is chaotic and there’s no telling what event will happen next. Life takes you by surprise. Everyone wakes up in the morning with that same innocence, thinking about what they want to do with their day, but what if the day wasn’t there for them to explore because they were no longer part of this life?
Tomorrow I won’t wake up wondering the same thoughts I’ve pondered about previously, but now I will think about what the world has come to and what has happened to compassion because it is evident that in society today, it no longer exists.
I’m sure you’re all aware of the Virginia Tech Massacre on April 16, 2007. Documented as the United States’ highest death toll in history, the massacre was an awful depiction of the world of today. One person walked into a school and killed 32 innocent people, many of which had aspirations to better themselves and be who they wanted to be in life. These aspirations remain dreams, for they were never given the chance to live the life they had planned for themselves, nor the future they sought. Acts like these are despicable and often unexplainable. One person’s rampant emotions ran wild in exchange for the lives of 32 students. The aura at Virginia Tech will never be the same, nor will the aura of the United States. Perhaps, this shooting was a wake up call that today’s youth need to be educated on school shootings, as to why they can occur and what motives are most common. We live in this world and it is up to us to change it for the better. People like the shooter can be eliminated through proper education on these dire situations. No one needs to die and we as the people of tomorrow and the people who strive to make this world and mold it to our liking need to step up and set the example. School shootings happen far too often for comfort. Months ago we recall the deaths of the Amish school children in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, or even years ago the school shooting at Columbine High School. As the years progress these incidents occur more frequently and in more destructive states. Thousands of families have been hurt around the world and hundreds in our own country have been devastated from these disgraceful predicaments. Security needs to be enhanced and people need to become more aware of their surroundings because no one knows who they truly go to school with or who they’ll come across day after day. Individuals just have to do their best day by day to survive.
School shootings, as they escalate year after year, are becoming a very controversial issue and in the past have been overlooked. As the numbers of deaths grow with each shooting I think people are beginning to realize the severity of this once unheard of societal problem.
I don’t know about you, but I can’t wake up anymore wondering what the weather will be like when I step outside my front door to leave for school. Now, I have to expect things out of my control to happen, things that I may not like, but I as one individual can not change by myself. I have to take precaution, because anything could happen whether I agree with it or not. The funny thing about life is that someone could spend their whole life planning their intentions and how they will spend their time, but rather than planning ahead one must plan for now, because it is now that things happen, not ten years from now.
This entry was posted
on Wednesday, April 18th, 2007 at 5:42 pm by Christina Jeng.
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If we were allowed to protect ourselves. much of this wouldnt happen. The reason why these things happen is because the perpetrators of the crime know that almost everyone else is unarmed. we have had all our rights slowly taken away. We are supposed to be allowed to have weapons of militia in case we need to aide or overthrow government. That right has been taken away, allowing our system of government to become totalitarian. Govt knows this, i have had correspondence with our esteemed executives and never have they claimed my use of totalitarianism was incorrect. they just stuck by their guns about the BS issues.
go figure…
I would hate waking up to a serenade by The Fray.