Blog Post #3

Nihilism- "Characterized by a kind of doom and despair, a sense of meaningless and hopelessness cause by prolonged oppression."

This term has really stuck out to me since we discussed it in class. This whole idea of not having hope and just feeling like things are not going to get better and I am only one person who has no way of making a change. I was this person not too long ago. I can't say I have completely transformed, but my mindset it beginning to change. I am 23 and have not voted in one election. ESPECIALLY presidential elections because government class in high school never gave me much hope my vote actually mattered. It wasn't until recently, when all of these mass shootings and killings have been taking place around the country my heart began to hurt. I felt this nihilism. It was awful and sad. The thought of, "It is never going to stop. No one will ever make a change," crossed my mind every time I heard of another tragedy.

One day in my UF 200 class I really began to feel this to my core, this nihilism. We watched a documentary on a man who was bullied so terribly he decided to do something about it, brought a gun to his college campus, and killed another student. The remainder of that day, I was mixed with emotions.. anger, confusion, sadness. I couldn't put my thoughts together, but it made me begin to realize that we can't get stuck in nihilism. I might be just one person, but if you grab another person, and another you soon have a group of people all believing and fighting for change. As cheesy and cliche as it sounds I have gained hope in this thought.

Post the documentary and awful feelings, I attended the rally at the capital building downtown Boise, March For Our Lives, and marched with what seemed like a million people making their voices heard; not giving into the thought that even though nothing has changed since the beginning of times, there is still hope and we can't not fight for a change.