Tragedy Strikes Again

Before reading this post, please know that my deepest apologies and sincerest respect go into every word written below. Also, as a preface, I am a Pepperdine alumna who graduated in 2017.

At the beautiful, upscale and privileged campus of Pepperdine in Malibu, CA., we have a false sense of security called the “Pepperdine Bubble.” This bubble ensures safety, solitude and protection from the outside world. This bubble makes us feel like bad things only happen to them (those outside the bubble) and not us (those inside the bubble). I believe this idea extends to many other privileged and metropolitan areas. This ideology is a very dangerous one to have for many reasons. For one, it causes us to be lax or indifferent on important issues facing this country. Because we consider ourselves to be safe and unfazed by the rest of the nation in our perfect and elite bubble.

Until tragedy strikes. For those of you that do not know, a shooting took place in Thousand Oaks at a small bar during their college student night on Wednesday, October 7, 2018. Among the victims was a first-year Pepperdine student. Although all the innocent souls deserve to be grieved for equally, this student, in particular, has garnered much news attention because of her famous family members, Tia and Tamera Mowry. However, the focus should not be on whom this young soul was related to, but rather, we should ask ourselves: “How could this tragic event have been prevented?”

How many more innocent people will have to lose their futures before we realize that on current gun policies are not working? Contesters say that “guns don’t kill people, people kill people.” While that statement is completely accurate, let’s not omit certain adjectives and nouns that belong in that sentence: Mentally unstable, violent or ill people with guns kill people.

America is one of the richest and most advanced nations, yet we do such a poor job of protecting our citizens against other citizens. I am not here to politize this blog page, nor am I here to make any grand gestures on policies changes. I personally do not know WHAT should be done, but I do know without a doubt that SOMETHING needs to be done.

Rest in peace to all the victims of the Borderline Bar and Grill shooting. My heart goes out to the families and friends.

Sincerely,
A Fellow Wave