Hello, My name is Trent Powell. On February 14, 2018, a tragedy in Parkland, Florida occurred when a ex-student chose to attack the school with an AR-15 assault rifle after pulling a fire alarm to get the students to go outside and he opened fire. Seventeen were killed. I was horrified as I saw on CNN a video of a classroom screaming as the man opened fire. That same day, I watched a film for the first time called John Wick. The movie was about a former assassin’s search for vengeance on a group of gangsters who took everything from him.  I mention this film specifically because I cheered as I saw a man kill other men. I sympathized with this killer. However, Nicholas Cruz’s actions were far worse. He went to a location where innocent people were and shot children. Kids died on that day and I wish to talk about the perception of fantasy vs reality. Not even five minutes passed until I texted the people who I watched the film with. Three of them said that the shooting  was terrible while one made jokes. I was disgusted. This person wouldn’t stop making jokes about a mass tragedy. I did not sleep at all that night. Then at two a.m. I started to cry. It is acceptable to make jokes about something like a movie or a TV show. However an event that actually has proof, where you can hear people screaming in terror and bullets flying into the air, you don’t even deserve to smile at a situation like that. If you hear that nobody was harmed, then you can smile. But when you know that people were killed you should stay silent and pray for the people and their families.

Thank You

Trent X Powell