I want a different America

I want to live in an America that loves its people as much as it loves its guns.

I want to live in an America that doesn't worship at the altar of guns.

I want to live in an America that doesn't just shrug and say, "Meh, what are you gonna do," after every mass shooting.

I want to live in an America where I don't just expect mass shootings.

I want to live in an America that doesn't just accept mass shootings.

I want to live in an America that cannot contain the phrase "after every mass shooting."

I want to live in an America where the guy on the radio can't begin a sentence with "Every time we see a mass shooting..."

I want to live in an America where churches, schools, concerts, clubs, coffee shops, offices, and workplaces are not targets for gun violence.

I want to live in an America in which elementary school children don't have to fucking practice active shooter lock-downs.

I want to live in an America where a man doesn't say to me, "Maybe if teachers aren't willing to arm themselves, they're not cut out to be teachers." (I want to live in an America where the idea of a teacher with a gun in a room filled with children sounds as insane as it is.)

I want to live in an America where my reality doesn't include a plan about what to do if a man with a gun comes for my classroom.

I want to live in an America where I don't say to my husband, "Of course it's my body between the gun and the kids. We protect kids first. That's our job."

I want to live in an America where I don't have to expect that the people who teach my children would also take a bullet for them.

I want to live in an America where the sight of a lone white man in a theater doesn't make me nearly stop breathing.

I want to live in an America that will call a white man a terrorist when he is a terrorist. I want an America where a terrorist's whiteness won't serve him with the label of a mentally ill lone wolf. I want to live in an America that doesn't push guns into his hands.

I want to live in an America that wakes up out of its complacency.

I want to live in an America that offers more than "thoughts and prayers."