We elect our officials. We vote actively by showing up. We vote passively by not showing up. We have the potential to change public policy. We have failed. We are all guilty.

Unfortunately there are always going to be bad people in the world and we are limited in our ability to always proactively identify them before terror ensues. We are not limited in our abilities to enact change.

Today’s Monday Mantra, courtesy of Voltaire, definitely applies to life in general. However, in this particular instance it applies to our negligence in the fight against guns.

Every man is guilty of all the good he did not do.

Forget for a second about all of the deaths brought about on foreign land. The constant violence in our own country has left us in a numbed state of perpetual mourning. We, everyday citizens and elected officials alike, have clearly stated the problem countless times in recent years, but aren’t doing enough to bring about a solution.

Did the recent hate crime committed by a domestic terrorist make you angry?

Good.

Use that.

Fight fire with fire.

Peacefully protest. Call your elected officials and make them vote for change. Fight the literal gunfire with the figurative fire in your soul, and stop accepting the current state of what is.

Until then, until we work harder to create the good we desire, we are all to blame.