Dear Next President,

Murder is a serious issue that needs to be addressed. People’s lives are being taken so easily, whether it be some type of freak accident or a more serious way for someone’s live to be taken, like the death penalty. Now, you may be wondering, “Why is a teenager worried about another person’s life?” I believe everyone in this world deserves to have a happy, eventful life. Everyone’s life is precious and cannot be taken for granted by themselves or others around them. As the President of our country, it is your job to make our lives a priority and to make us feel safe anywhere we are.

Around a year ago, someone I knew personally, was hit by a drunk driver while she was running on the sidewalk. It was early in the morning, and somehow, someway, the car swerved out of control to avoid hitting this person, but ended up hitting them and killing her. Now, the point of me telling this is not for you to feel bad for me, but for you to see this as an example of an innocent person’s life being taken by another human being. Like I said before, everyone’s life is precious and people are always in danger of something like this happening to them at any given point. There are ways this situation could have been avoided, but the death of a person cannot be taken lightly, no matter if them being killed was a consequence or a tragedy.

Clearly, what I just described was a true tragedy, but as a teenager and hearing all the news channels talking about how many people are killed by police, it makes me question, am I even able to trust the “good guys”? According to the NewsELA article “Grand jury indicts ex-officer for murder in South Carolina case,” a white officer shot at an unarmed, black male. The officer claims he fired in self defense, but witnesses, home videos, and evidence showed differently. Now, the officer is facing 30 years to life in prison. In the past, there have been many other events similar to this one. Innocent lives are taken by someone who is not cautious or careful enough.

As the future President of our nation and the voice of America, it is your job to make everyone in our country feel as safe as possible. It is your responsibility to take care of America as a whole and think of everyone’s safety all together. This problem needs to be addressed to everyone in many ways, such as bill boards that advertise how lives are taken and how scary it can be. Also a telephone hotline can be made for people to call. People need to feel safe wherever they are, and with this hotline they can. If people hear about all the cases and situations like the two I have already talked about, people will eventually realize how valuable people’s lives are and how they can be taken for advantage by others.

Sincerely,

Katelyn F., Pennsylvania