If I die in a school shooting

I am a college sophomore living in America at a time when a mass shooting occurs on average every 16 hours, or about 1.5 times a day. So if I die in a school shooting, here is what you need to know.

  1. I keep my dorm keys in the front pocket of my backpack. This should make it easy for you to clean out my room and reassign it to another student. The decorations might be a bit difficult to take down - please try and get them off the wall in one piece in case my friends want them. Most are paintings and pictures from memories we made. 
  2. My computer password is my dog’s name. After you log in, please send a Slack message to my boss telling her I won’t be able to work my shift on Friday. I don’t want my coworker to be alone. 
  3. I have been saving money in my bank account since I was 14. I have a decent bit set aside, so when you close the account, please give it to my mom, as she’ll know what to put it toward in order to help my family.
  4. I wear a size medium - 4 in pants, 8 in shoes. I would appreciate it if you donated my clothes to charities or second- hand thrift stores so that they don’t add to the piles that end up in landfills every year.
  5. I was working towards degrees in Political Science, English, and Computer Science. I wanted to go to law school. Since that won’t be happening, feel free to give all my notes, test prep resources, answer keys, past assignments, etc. to anyone in those fields. They as well might be useful to someone. 
  6. I am going to a Taylor Swift concert in May. My sister and my brother’s girlfriend will still be on the trip, so see if my mom or one of their friends wants to take my ticket. It shouldn’t go to waste. 
  7. My birthday is April 5. If it’s coming up, make sure to return my gifts. I hate money being frivolously spent or time going to waste, so please cancel any celebration. 
  8. Think about the fact that I will have died before graduating college. If that doesn’t disturb you, think about the fact that 2 of the 3 deadliest school shootings were not at colleges; they were at elementary schools. Those children didn’t graduate fifth grade.
  9. Don’t call me a daughter, or sister, or friend; call me a victim of the NRA and the people who would rather protect their right to own an assault rifle than the lives of their fellow human beings. Likewise, do not send thoughts and prayers - they won’t bring us back to life.
  10. Leave my body on the front steps of the Capitol and make every lawmaker who has ever voted against gun reform walk across it on their way in. Protest and vote and march until gun reform legislation is written in the blood of the 349 who have died in school shootings since 2013 and signed with the names of the 348,000 whose school or college campus has been attacked. Do not rest until the classroom is a place for education, not a holding pen for still-breathing bodies because the morgue is already full.

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