Even though our concept of religion and the way in which one may consider themselves to be religious has changed over the years we, the United States, has unfortunately become more aware of the religion; however, I have realized it is due to the attacks that have recently been put on churches and or individuals from a specific religion. This past week with the New Zealand shooting I saw a different reaction from individuals in and outside of the United States than the responses we usually give.
The attack on the Christchurch Mosque, located in New Zealand was met with outrage, terror and quick responses from the Prime Minister. Jacinda Ardnern spoke and put a strict ban on guns and this only took one shooting for them to make this decision which has most Americans outraged in comparison to the amount of shootings that have taken place in our nation and no actions or consequences met with it. When I first heard this news, myself and many others felt slightly desensitized to the event; however, I had multiple friends that have study abroad through Redlands to New Zealand and seeing their hurt for the community that they once lived in made me realize in a different capacity the impact of this event. This was one of the first times that an event outside of the US I had to some extent a connection to. I found it interesting that the time that had passed between the event up in till the new ban was put into place was little to no time. When these events happen I always ponder to what extent do we have to wait for change to take place?