For most teenagers growing up in the United States, we do not realize how lucky we are for the lives that are fortunate enough to live. By which I mean, both the opportunities we have and the gift of life that we receive. There is, of course, violence in our country - there are shootings and there are people who act out of unjust rage. But there are countries where kids have to labor on plantations in order to keep their lives because if they don't, they'll be shot. There are countries where hundreds are shot a day for no reason but the fact that they were there. And every single one of those people had a mother and a father, friends, a community.

How can people be so cruel? I want to study the human mind, but I don't understand how one can live after gunning down an innocent life. Even in America, one of the said most fortunate countries, there are people who are killed in our own cities. I just don't understand.