Enough is Enough

This post was created as a result of the Robb Elementary School massacre in Uvalde, Texas that happened on May 24, 2022. It originally appeared on LinkedIn. Photos and captions courtesy of the New York Times.

I am posting this and the photos of the victims because I cannot stop thinking about them, or their lives that were tragically cut short due to something that should have been preventable.

From left: Alexandria “Lexi” Aniyah Rubio, Amerie Jo Garza, Tess Marie Mata and Jose Flores.

From left: Miranda Mathis, Maite Rodriguez, Makenna Lee Elrod, Xavier Lopez

From left: Eliana “Ellie” Garcia, Layla Salazar, Eliahana Cruz Torres, Alithia Ramirez

From Left: Uziyah Garcia, Nevaeh Bravo, Rojelio Torres

From left: Jackie Cazares, Annabelle Rodriguez, Jailah Silguero, Jayce Luevanos

From left: Eva Mireles, Irma Garcia

This is a work platform, but I have another job in addition to my role as Communications Strategist. I am a mother. This is my most important job, and it's the one that causes me the most anxiety because I fear for the safety of my children. I am afraid of the world I brought them into.

Yesterday's massacre at Robb Elementary School is heavy on my mind. Whenever another tragedy like this occurs, I think back to the nearly 7 years I spent in Israel. When my husband and I made the difficult choice to leave in 2015, I was pregnant with my second child. It was during a time of great conflict, when we saw no less than 80 terrorist attacks in 8 weeks. I had stopped going into work. Yet despite this, when I told Jewish and Arab friends, family members and acquaintances in Israel about our plan to return to the U.S., they all shared the same sentiment:

"You're going back there? With all the mass shootings? Aren't you afraid?"

That I was told this by people from all walks of life, including my Palestinian doctor, who shook his head sadly and said, "There is too much gun violence in America. You're safer here" - it imparts the impact of what it means to live in a country that claims to be pro-life but does not have common sense gun laws. A country that repeatedly and consistently fails to protect it's most vulnerable citizens.

I did not post this to get into a debate about Middle Eastern politics. I posted to illustrate a point. The people who live in a country that has been in conflict for generations all believe that America is unsafe, because anyone can get a gun. Not even the killing of school children is enough to enact common sense gun laws here.

As one person said to me when I left Israel: Maybe America will be safe when you love your children more than you love your guns.

Call your senator. Support nonprofits that aim to change the culture of violence. Take action. If enough of us rise up to advocate for change, we can make a difference.

#endgunviolence

Support Everytown for Gun Safety or The Sandy Hook Promise