Terrorism: a disease interminably surging through our veins. Deafening, rhythmically pulsing through every artery, it threatens to fracture the bones that suppress its power. We look to the exterior to find the causes of our illness; we look to those who cover themselves in hijabs, speak in arabic tongue, and we point a finger. Yet, our finger has misguided us; it has pointed us into seeing the wrong villain: those exclusively of Middle Eastern descent.

It is within us that terrorism is cultivated. It is domestic. It is not the Islamic beliefs that have catalyzed the recent outbreak of terror attacks in our nation. Those of extremist views may prick our finger, but it is the unexpected terrorists, the ones that hide under the disguise of the typical “American” that cause slow and painful disease.

Gone unchecked and without proper treatment, both domestic and foreign terrorism lead to the mortality of a nation. However, of the two evils, the greater threat to our nation is the one that we can not see nor expect. When we look down, see the blood seeping from our finger, we put a band-aid or in political terms: a Middle-Eastern exclusionary act on it. But when we are deteriorating from within, as a cost of internal attacks, there is no band-aid, no political decision, that possesses the ability to mend.

In Sutherland Springs, Texas and Las Vegas, Nevada this disease has enveloped innocents into a time of panic and despair. However we may consider ourselves accustomed, maybe even immune, to these acts of brutality, each attack weakens us as a nation if no responsive actions are taken.

Before the United States was so greatly infected with terrorism, its strength was hindered by a cigarette epidemic. In the 1930s and 1940s, smoking tobacco became a prerequisite for being considered “cool” in American society. This trend remained a continuity in popular culture for several decades. Only in the 1950s did studies displaying the negavite correlation between cigarette smoking and health appear. As a result of this increased awareness, since the 1950s to present day, a continually diminishing percentage of cigarette smokers in the U.S. has been seen. We can only hope that similar awareness but in terms of domestic terrorism will arise in our nation. Spreading awareness has worked before, and it can work again. Now, it is only an aspiration that gun laws will be revised and restricted. If they are not, we will forever be under the oppression of a malignant disease.

May you be reminded that this infection does not show up on a CAT scan or a MRI, we can’t see it. But if you think that because we can’t see it, it is not possible to stop from vandalising our interior, from killing us from within, you are wrong.