Opinion

Op-Ed: Presence Before Prevention

Sirens blare in the morning as I sit in class. Students used to rush to the window to see the commotion. Now, it's such a normality; it has our attention just about as long as a TV commercial lasts. On the ride home, I see ambulances racing past me. The usual reaction is, "What could it be now?" I counted bullets fired as I sat on my bed the other Friday. Cars drove through police checkpoints as if it was just another pulled-over vehicle. As I scroll through my Facebook news feed, I see schoolmates post respects to someone they were used to laughing with. And the next week, it's like nothing ever happened. The elephant in the room is that we have become numb to sights and sounds that used to spark worry. St. Croix Educational Complex Senior, Hannah Rantan "How did this happen?!" It may be that the blind eye turned to emergency sirens may have been closed on children in adolescence. We were raised in a breeding ground of criminal charges. We were lulled to sleep by the tempo ...