#PrayforLasVegas

The reaction of a seven-year-old to being told there was a mass shooting shouldn't ever be "where was it this time?"

Our world doesn't need to be sugar coated for our children. Our world depends on our children being actively involved in the betterment of it. Through compassion, crisis training, tolerance, and action, our children will be the force that makes our world stronger and more beautiful. These are things that must be taught.

Last night, a lone gunman unloaded at least 10 rifles worth of ammo on a crowd of unsuspecting victims enjoying the performances at a country music festival in Las Vegas, NV. The gunman managed to kill at least 50 (including members of the Las Vegas Metro Police Department, both on and off duty), and injured hundreds more before turning the gun on himself, and ending his own life in his hotel room across the strip from the music festival.

It was the largest mass shooting to date in US history. It's not a thing that can be ignored, or swept under the rug. We live in a time and a place in our society that requires a shift in thought processes. Last night, when the victim count surpassed what the paramedics and ambulances could handle on their own, survivors who were just as scared and in danger of being shot as any member of the crowd set aside their own safety to help others.

They came together to help move the injured to the area hospitals, which were utterly overrun. They broke down street barriers to create makeshift stretchers, they loaded gunshot wound victims into truck beds and shoved those able to manage into squad cars by the dozen to get them to the hospital for treatment. They banded together in the middle of the night to donate blood to help the hospitals keep up with the need, there were lines running outside the donation centers, and many centers had to divert volunteers to other centers.

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These people could have fled for cover and hunkered down until it had all passed. They could have run away and protected their own. But instead, they chose to run into danger to help others. There is a certain breed of people who do this. They're the ones who are naturally drawn to careers in the military or as first responders.

We will not see an end to gun violence and mass shootings in our lifetime. Our children will not see a time in their lives free of violence and destruction. As time treads on, our weapons get better and our tolerance gets worse. We need to strive to teach our children that weapons are tools that have a time and a place for use. That tolerance is not a good idea, it's a necessary one. That for us to survive ourselves, we need a shift in mindset.

We're all people, we all bleed red. We all cry salted tears. We all mourn the loss of loved ones and fear loss of life. Not every child will grow up to be a politician, or a doctor, or a police officer. The people helping the gunshot victims certainly didn't all train to be paramedics or triage nurses, but they took on the role when the need arose. If for right now, that best we can do is teach compassion and how to keep calm in a crisis, our world will be a more beautiful place in spite of the senseless violence.

Contact your local emergency response organization and find out how you can help, and further, how you can train to respond to similar emergencies should they ever happen in your neck of the woods.

#PrayforLasVegas