Chapter 1: The Reality Check

Life can be daunting and unsettling, filled with challenges and unpredictability. The hard truth is that the world does not owe you anything. I share this not out of malice, but to emphasize an undeniable reality. This notion struck me particularly hard after learning about the 180th mass shooting in the United States this year.

Let that statistic sink in: ten mass shootings in under four months. We find ourselves in a battleground—not against a foreign enemy, but against one another. The most recent tragic event in Texas unfolded when a man decided to fire his rifle in his front yard late at night. When his neighbors, concerned about their sleeping baby, asked him to stop, the situation escalated. After they called the police, five lives were lost, including that of an eight-year-old boy, all killed execution-style at close range.

The suspect, after being confronted, insisted he could do as he pleased on his property. Witnesses noted he had been drinking, and security footage confirmed his brutal actions before he fled.