I am one of those people who tweet things like #prayforhumanity and #alllivesmatter. While it is great to have support from people around the world, it is not changing anything. So I decided if I want to make a difference, I have to actually do something. I am a firm believer that every single life matters. Whether it be white, black, gay, straight, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, even animals. We as a human race need to start treating each other that way. Frankly, whether you believe in it or not has no significance whatsoever. We need to understand that we are all equal.
   

 If we continue to act out hate crimes against people who we think are inferior to us, soon there will be none of us. That being said, some people just crave to see the world fall apart. But those of us who want to experience life outnumber those who don't. Love beats hate. A single hate act can take place in just minutes and wipe out everyone's hope for humanity. We need to stop that because the more we lose faith in humanity, the more we will lose ourselves and there will be no humanity left. We need to take a long hard look at our lives and make some big changes. Most of us are born, go to school, get a job, have kids, and die, just so the next generation can do it all over again. Is that really a fulfilling life? Are we experiencing everything that life has to offer? No. We are destroying it. We are cutting down forests to make room for more office buildings. We are ruthlessly killing animals so we can have more quarter pounders. We're turning a blind eye to rapists so the upper class can stay happy. And we are killing people who are different than us.
   

 To be full of life is to be filled with vitality and energy, but that doesn't seem to be how most people are living nowadays. Maybe we don't want to look at all the damage we've done because it's too hard for us to acknowledge. Maybe we don't want to change. I don't know, but the fact remains, if we don't change our lifestyle, we don't have to wait for the world to end to wipe out humanity. We'll do that perfectly on our own. We need to enforce gun control. There is no other option. The right to bear arms was established centuries ago, and frankly, we have abused that power. Guns only exist to create violence. I'm sorry if you are one of the few who actually keep a gun around the house for protection and don't abuse that freedom, but the fate of humanity is at stake here, and we can't afford to keep guns around. I'm not stupid. I know banning guns won't prevent everyone in the world from getting guns, but it will sure make it harder to obtain them, which will decrease gun violence significantly.
     

Honestly, after the heart wrenching tragedy of Sandy Hook, I am shocked that we have not been able to create any efficient gun laws, and there are still mass shootings going on all the time. In 2013, over 33,000 people died in the US alone from gun violence, not even including firearm deaths from legal intervention. 33,000. If that number doesn't go down, I am truly concerned for the human race.
   

 We haven't been on the Earth very long in the scheme of things, and we've already managed to mess so much up. Animals have survived meteors, earthquakes, blizzards, and countless other natural disasters, but nothing could have prepared them for our arrival. We need to stop taking lives. Whether it be humans or animals. We need to stop torturing animals for our benefit. If we can't do that, how will we even begin to take a step towards creating peace between humans?

Some people do just want to see the world burn, but many don't. If you are one of those people, I beg you to think about your lives and be the change you want to see. Unfortunately, years after Martin Luther King Jr said these famous words, nothing has changed. "We have flown in the air like birds and swum the sea like fishes, but have yet to learn the simple act of walking the earth like brothers."
     

As much as we'd like to pretend that racism is over, it is simply not true. There is still abundant amounts of hate in the world. But, there are also endless amounts of love. Humanity is described as compassion, brotherly love, and kindness. I beg you not to lose faith in humanity. There is still plenty left. Even though the recent tragedies often seem to diminish it, it is still there. If we use it, we can change the world. If we don't, the world will change us.