Dear Highland Park

Dear Highland Park, I need to begin this letter by saying I know thoughts and prayers are so old by now. That's not what we need. We need change. We need to stop having all these shootings. But I do need to say that I'm sorry. I'm sorry that someone thought it was okay to ruin your holiday parade. I'm sorry that someone thought it was okay to kill all the people they did. I'm sorry that you had to experience that trauma. I'm sorry that you will now have to live with it for the rest of your life. It's not okay. You shouldn't have to be sad everytime the 4th of July rolls around. You should be able to go out and enjoy yourselves without feeling sorrowful of those you lost. What happened shouldn't have happened. We need to do something. My heart is absolutley shattered for you. I know that's not exactly waht you need to hear right now but that's all I can say. I wish I could say I knew how to change things but sadly I don't. I wish I could have done something to prevent this from happening but I couldn't have. I wasn't there. I live in South Carolina. I'm sorry that nobody stopped this from happening. I'm sorry that you now have to grapple with this shock and pain. I'm sorry that you now have to try and process what happened. I honestly don't know what else to say. I wish someone would change something and make this not happen again. I wish someone would understand that this isn't okay and shouldn't be normal. This should not be the year of Mass shootings but sadly that's what it's becoming. We shouldn't be not surprised everytime this happens. People who can make change happen should be listening to us. Someone should do something. I'm so beyond sorry for you. I honestly don't know what else to say. Thoughts and prayers seems a bit unreasonable at this point. It seems a bit pointless.Nobody should have to grapple with this pain and misunderstanding. Nobody should have to say goodbye to family members or friends. I can only say that perhaps we will see each other on the other side. Perhaps we will all be reunited in peace someday. Perhaps someday someone will listen and make changes. Perhaps we will all find peace. I don't know what else to say. This shouldn't be your memory of any day. This shouldn't be something that is included in our history. This will forever tramatize people. This will forever make people sad everytime the holidays roll around. Sometimes we have to deal with sad things but this should not be one of them.We should not be acting like this is normal. Because it's far from normal. It's heinous. This isn't something we should get used to. This is becoming far to normal and that's far from okay. In fact it needs to not be okay. It never was okay but we need rules and regulations and people to feel safe. We can't walk around feeling unsafe and as if we have no freedom. I'm sorry that someone thought ruining your day was okay and I'm sorry that flowers are piling up in the worst way and that nobody knows what to say. I'm sorry that you have to now have difficult conversations with people and your family. I'm sorry that you have to move forward in this state of emotion that may not go away for a while. I'm sorry that nothings changed and I honestly don't know what else to say.