Valentine’s day 2018 marked another school shooting, with 17 students murdered and countless others injured in Parkland, Florida. Originally, I wrote an opinion piece on the concept of “Lady Dorito’s” but since then I have realized that there are more significant, meaningful subjects to write about.

I don’t think that there are words that will ever express how sorry, how remorseful I am that the system has failed again.

Some people are focused on the fact that the alleged killer is white, or to place the blame on the president. What it really comes down to, though, is that people — innocent young adults and teachers, and everyone around them — have been permanently changed by this horrible, tragic event. Never again will they be the same.

Yet people have argued that if the killer were a person of color, police would have shot him on sight. The fact of the matter is that the police officers did not shoot him because he was not armed and they were uncertain if he was the perpetrator. The shooter was able to blend into the crowd and then escape to a nearby neighborhood. Imagine if the police had shot him on sight, most people would’ve applauded them, but they shouldn’t shoot first and then ask questions later. Since they were able to detain him, we are better able to understand the motive.

People have used this tragedy as a platform to speak out against the president, who posted a tweet saying that he was sending prayers to the families and victims of the mass shooting.

Yes, it doesn’t make sense that he didn’t say anything else about it. It makes sense why there is so much outrage surrounding this issue, we can play the blame game but it won’t change what happened whatsoever.

Yes, this is a gun issue and this is a societal issue but I don’t believe that it is fair to use this as an excuse to bring up race issues or politics. This is a perfect platform to advocate for gun restrictions but we should still be sensitive to the tragedy that occurred.

A nationwide school walkout is scheduled for March 20, students plan to wear orange in solidarity.

Honestly, those things don’t matter. What matters is that we have failed 17 people, and we continue to fail them by being complacent.

I am embarrassed. I am disappointed. I am rightfully upset because we haven’t done anything to prevent mass murders.