Once again, in America, we have had two mass shootings.

And like after every one of them, people use it to politicize their ideology. We try to find something to blame in order to make ourselves feel better, feel safer, and try to wrap our minds around the reason why.

We desperately search for a cure but are unwilling to face the disease.

We look for an easy way to understand it all, so we pick something and stick to it. We blame “angry white men,” “anti-American Muslims,” “evil illegal immigrants.” Whoever fits the bill at the time, and then the entire group of like people are blamed.

But are we willing to blame ourselves?

We celebrate violence in movies and music. We put our elderly away in homes so they don’t disturb our fast track lives. We applaud the sexualization of children. We treat people like they are replaceable and that they only have value if they are young, good looking, and thin.

And from the youngest of age, we teach our children that a baby is nothing more than a clump of cells, a disposable choice, instilling in them the idea that life itself has no meaning.

Today I went to lunch with my mom, and as I walked through the booths to pay the bill, I saw table after table of people with their faces in their phones living a virtual reality, trying to escape the real reality right in front of them, practicing escapism in the most modern and acceptable form.

We have done everything we can to disconnect from humanity and each other, and we wonder what the problem is.

So, are you willing to look inward and accept your part in the way the world is going or will you continue to point the finger and try to put the blame on everything else?

How about we start by putting down the phones and letting people know we see them, and that we acknowledge their presence and their value as a human being!! Start by looking people in the eye and saying hi! Start by connecting with your children instead of putting them in front of a tv or computer or putting them in every activity you can pay for, keeping them busy with everything but time with you!

It really does start and end with you and with me. Do your part. Stop passing the blame.

If you want a better world, then be a participant in making it that way and stop expecting everyone else to do it for you.

What will your legacy be?