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Viveka Mehrotra

Code Lockdown

Updated: Apr 2, 2023


Blood in the hallways

Let’s talk about it

A nation’s divided

It’s the school shootings, you see

That has the health of this nation

In jeopardy


Forks don’t make you fat

Guns don’t kill

People do

They’ll find another way

To get you another day

Till then

JUST STAY, DON’T MOVE

Or with your life

You’ll pay


Pro life

Does this mean

We fight

Only for the lives

Of the unborn

Pro life

Shouldn’t this also mean

We don’t knowingly sacrifice

The lives of

Our teens and tweens


While we place

The lives of those

Still in their mother’s womb first

Do we care

That with guns

These young shooters

Have been equally nursed


Meanwhile

In a school somewhere

The children are huddled

Under their desks

In prayer

While they cower

The corridors outside

Ring with gunfire


It could be

A troubled stranger or friend

With the means

To justify THE END

Loading an AR15

With enough magazines

So that

With each aim

Every single bullet

Finds a name


Be charitable

Says the government

Of the day

Accept the inevitable

There’s little we can do

Or say

To hold sway

With the NRA


No resolution

In sight

Besides, our Second Amendment

Makes it right

No choice

Other than to be contrite

And own our plight


If there’s no solution

No way forward

And every day

Brings news of

More kids martyred

I’d rather become

Unborn again

For it’s the only time

My life ever mattered



 

I still remember my sixth grade self watching the horrifying news about the Parkland, Florida school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. I saw the situation from the eyes of someone young and uneducated. Unlike others more mature and older, I saw a not a violation of our Second Amendment but a simple violation of humanity. The Constitution was written to be a living document open to the interpretation of our circumstances. A gun back then compares nothing to the ones we have now; a knife wouldn’t have taken the lives of seventeen students at MSDHS. Even after so many young lives lost, people are quick to argue that the white teenage shooter was a mentally ill victim, but this is so much more than a mental health issue. The United States is one of the only countries where we are still dealing with this problem everyday because our freedom to wield an AR-15 outweighs the lives of others. If you’ve made it this far, I encourage you take the time to watch the “We Call BS” speech (or read the the transcript) of survivor Emma Gonzalez. I think her vigorous words are what encouraged me to not only be passionate about this topic, but write this prose. There’s a strict line between controversy and compassion, and my heart aches for the continuous blind faith of millions in our nation. After all these years, so much for “all lives matter."

 

Biography:

Hello and Namaste! I am Viveka Mehrotra, a 14-year old Michigan born ABCD - American Born Confused “Desi” - still trying to figure out what makes me tick. I’m a hopeless romantic who adores to read, drink excessive amounts of coffee, and listen to alternative rock music on repeat. I live in Athens, Georgia and attend North Oconee High School. After living in India for 5 years, I look forward to sharing my experience as an Indian American and discussing stereotypes, media, family, traditions, and social injustice in our community.


Instagram: @thevivekamehrotra


Cover Photo Source: News Week

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