An Elegy About a School Shooting

Prologue: A new kid joins an already troubled elementary school He sits alone on the first day, and no one dares to sit next to him For if they dared, their social status would be reduced to a pile of rubble. For a while everyone just left this kid alone, and no one dared to figure out the root cause of his absentmindedness. Not the teachers, Not even the parents Over time whenever the kid tried to speak his truth he was denied by his classmates Denied by his teachers Denied by everyone So like many others he gave up fighting an already corrupted system in which he was shoved in. He did as he was told, Until he couldn’t take it anymore And ran away. But he would come back, for those who have wronged him. No, even bigger. He would come for the system. An Elegy about a School Shooting If you can, imagine elementary school kids just walking in their school hallways The birds were chirping, The sun was shining And all it took was a gunshot A student falls to the ground and chaos ensues People are screaming fleeing the building One, two, more children fall to the floor All it took was 20 minutes and so many lives were lost The children that survived will never be the same Trauma, PTSD, Depression And the families of those who died will be forever in grief Grief because of their loved one and the life they could’ve lived But like everything, nothing is permanent in this world So take a moment of silence and envision the state of a glorious elementary school Before the chaos, before the fire Now envision the same elementary school with blood on the windows, all over the floor, bullet holes in classroom doors, shattered glass. But as I said, nothing is permanent, and so I come to terms with the anger inside of me, wanting to do something about our corrupt world. But as hard as it is, chaos is needed for change, A flower doesn’t grow unless it’s watered. Oh how badly I wish people would work to save lives Instead of demolishing innocent ones Demolishing futures Demolishing any chance of contribution to our society Demolishing any chance of hope Demolishing loved ones.