The campus community needs to come together and avoid divisiveness following a Florida mass shooting.
A school shooting occurred Feb. 14 in Parkland, Florida, at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. Seventeen people were killed and at least 14 more were injured. A dialogue about gun control and mental health care has followed, as it has after previous mass shootings.
When young people die in such horrible ways, emotions are high and people are likely to be more sensitive about these issues than normal. This is perfectly natural-feelings of grief, anger and sadness find a way to come out. But students should be careful not to let these feelings prevent them from having productive conversations.
Gun control is an issue that has been discussed for a long time, and it’s just as important today to address it in a practical, fact-based manner. Even when two individuals disagree, there still must be room for differences of opinion without aggression or acrimony.
If someone expresses an opinion that is different from yours, remember to listen and try to understand them before stating your own point. Students must remember to see their peers not as mindsets or opinions, but as complex individuals with life experiences that shape who they are and how they think.
School shootings are an ongoing issue in America, and it seems like there is no progress toward a solution. Refusal to cooperate between politicians is perhaps the largest cause of failure to address this issue. If students, faculty and staff can’t conduct dialogue on the issue without room for respectful disagreement, then we’re making the same mistake that has prevented progress on the issue in the first place.
Educate yourself on the issues you see as important and have constructive, thoughtful conversations about them. Don’t blame people or generalize. Be polite, but don’t wait for action. If things are to change, the community needs to rally together and figure out how to make those changes happen. But, the only way to really accomplish this is to hear each other out and listen first before reacting.
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