I'm gonna try and get a hashtag trending called #IfIdieInASchoolShooting [1]. If you wanna join, feel free. #IfIdieInASchoolShooting [2] I will never be able to finish my animated TV series, I'll never be able to see my sister again, and I will have to become a martyr. #NeverAgain [3]
— Andrew Schneidawind (@SoldierSchnyd) May 20, 2018 [4]
In the wake of the 22nd school shooting to take place in the US in 2018 in Santa Fe, TX, Andrew Schneidawind, a Twitter user from Virginia, decided to keep the conversation about gun violence in schools [5] going in the best way he knew how: by creating the hashtag #IfIDieInASchoolShooting [6] so students could share what they'd leave behind — or miss out on altogether — if they were to become a victim.
And after originally posting his idea to the Twittersphere on May 20, his tweet has gone completely viral — and the responses from teens and tweens across the US are actually heartbreaking. Here are some of the most poignant tweets that we'll be thinking about long after we read them:
#IfIdieInASchoolShooting [8] my parents will become daughterless. i'll never live my dream of becoming a mother and a writer. if I die in a school shooting, please honor me by never ceasing to intensively advocate for safer gun regulations. cover my grave in Forget-Me-Not flowers.
— claire 🇯🇵 (@claireecash) May 20, 2018 [9]
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting [10] I will never get to study astrophysics, I will never get to rescue future dogs in need, I will never be able to see my siblings grow into the people they are bound to be, I will never be able to walk across the stage with my peers.
— i hate myself (@hmmaaxx) May 20, 2018 [11]
#IfIdieInASchoolShooting [12]
i will never
- get married
- have children
- go to college
- graduate
- buy a car
- live— jenna (@idioticjenna) May 20, 2018 [13]
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting [14] i will be yet another friend who died too young. my parents will never see me premiere my first film, i'll never have children, i'll never fall in love for real, i'll never see my sisters get married, i'll never experience life fully. reform gun control.
— tahlia 🦎 (@venusmusik) May 20, 2018 [15]
#IfIdieInASchoolShooting [16] then I'll never get to publish my book, celebrate my sweet 16, get married, or see my children grow to be wonderful people.
— Caspen (Cas) Becher // #NEVERAGAIN (@casforachange) May 20, 2018 [17]
#IfIdieInASchoolShooting [18]
I will leave behind...
-an autistic brother who needs his sister.
-A mother with multiple sclerosis who needs help with her IVs, etc.
-A father who told me I could be anything in the world.
-A grandmother who took me in after both my parents couldn't. https://t.co/c9XDGufpWM [19]— dassi kaplin | #NEVERAGAIN (@dassi4change) May 20, 2018 [20]
Even Emma González, a Parkland shooting survivor and gun violence awareness activist, responded by honoring the friend that she tragically lost.
#IfIDieInASchoolShooting [21] I'd get to see Carmen again
— Emma González (@Emma4Change) May 20, 2018 [22]