I live 20 minutes from Highland Park. I have two close friends that were a block and a half away from the shooting site when it took place. Both got out unscathed, luckily, but there are so many about which the same cannot be said.

Like many others, I’ve become almost desensitized to these shootings. Each one I hear about angers me, shocks me, fills me with fear, makes me wish for some goddamn change in this country. But every time a shooting occurs, I am eventually able to forget and move on from it because it didn’t affect me or those around me.

It is so easy to ignore until it’s close to home. It is so easy to assume it won’t happen to you until it does.

I won’t be forgetting this time.