If I were a speechwriter, here’s what I would write for every politician, at every level, in our country.

To my Constituents:

The incidents of violence that are sweeping our nation are tragic, heartbreaking, and unnerving. There is no doubt that we have an epidemic in America that requires action beyond thoughts and prayers, no matter how sincere they might be.

This discussion among the members of our community and throughout America is passionate because of one overwhelming desire: To end the violence and bring innocence and opportunity back into the lives of our youngest generations.

But in that passion, in that spirit of finding solutions, we are becoming divisive to the degree that we are actually making the problem worse. We are creating a gridlock where we should be elevating our conversation toward solutions that make our schools, our sports events, our concerts, and our rallies safe places for all.

What is happening across America right now is no better than when politicians stand up and say, “Now is not the time to have this discussion.” If we can’t work together toward the right solutions right now, then we are only encouraging future tragedies to happen while we tangle and fight over rights and reactions.

Each and every one of you has the power and the responsibility to use that same energy in a way that will help our neighborhoods, our states, and our entire country become a land where we are safer, stronger, and healthier.

What I am proposing today is a five-fold process to help us reverse this trend in tragedies and make every single individual feel safer in our communities and throughout our country.

It’s not going to be easy. It requires us to discard the hate toward one another, to delete the memes and the messages that pit us against others, to end the belief that our problems can be solved by the creation of some magic legislation that will be the elixir to our problems. There is no quick fix. This problem did not happen overnight. We are not here today mourning the loss of another 17 innocent individuals because of one singular thing we did yesterday.

No. We need to see and own this epidemic for what it is and resolve to do something together to end the senseless violence.

First, we need to stop being so defensive and believing that the problem rests in one specific area. This is not just a mental illness problem, or a gun problem, or a parent problem, or a community problem. It is all of these things, and so much more. We must begin by dropping our defenses and understand that there is no careful selection here of who might be the next victim. It isn’t black versus white or gun owner versus peace activist. If we were to make a memorial quilt of the faces of the lives that have been silenced in the last year alone due to violence within our country, we would see that we are all vulnerable to the violence. We must begin with an understanding that the problem is bigger than any one of us.

Second, we need to stop being persuaded by large organizations who use a lot of money to protect their industries. Our meetings need to be without funding, without organizational support, and without agendas. We need to come to the table as open-minded individuals with one goal in mind: to raise children in communities that foster wellness. Each and every one of us needs to own this. To be clear: I strongly encourage organizations to get involved and work with us toward solutions; but if your agenda is defensive and derisive, if your agenda is more about profits than it is about saving lives, then your arguments and your money are not welcome here.

Third, we need to agree upon a process that requires involvement and engagement at all levels. I don’t believe there is anybody in our communities that would support the future slaughter of our sons and daughters, our brothers and sisters, especially in places where they should feel safe — whether that is at a night club, an open concert, or a school. The problems we face are not just because a person was bullied, or just because he or she had access to a gun, or just because social media played a role in developing a way of thinking. We need to be open-minded and see that this is not somebody else’s problem. If you live in the United States of America, then it is your problem as much as it is mine.

Fourth, we need to come to terms with common agreements that can begin today. How we raise our children, how we interact with others, how we use tools of social media, how we support one another, how we say something if we see something, how we embrace the most basic values of life, of liberty, and of the pursuit of happiness.

And we also need to come to terms with anger, and what access we have to weapons of personal and public destruction, and how we support individuals who feel like they have nowhere to turn. The words and actions we use toward one another matter. It isn’t cute or productive to bully someone on social media, call them names or mock them for their beliefs. This applies to our leaders as much as it might to anyone else in our schools, our businesses, our homes.

We run our lives too much on reactive emotion, and we must end the personal attacks and anonymous contributions to hatred and mockery.

Fifth, we need to act upon our common agreements in ways that are supportive, not defensive or derisive, and empower our youngest generations to use their gifts in ways that strengthen their community and their nation.

We don’t do that by going to war against the very people who are also fighting to protect the lives of others. We do that by understanding that our neighbors want the same outcome as we do; we just need to figure out how to get there together.

Some of the greatest messages that we have heard in recent days have come out of the minds and hearts of our youth. And some of them were the survivors in Parkland, Florida, who huddled together as their friends and teachers died around them. Even in the center of such horrific tragedy, they speak of peace, of ending violence, of making their environments safer — in their schools, their communities, their country.

We live in different times, and the solutions in the 70’s and 80’s just won’t work in the 21st Century. Every single individual, of every single generation, needs to end the blame game and forge a new possibility for all.

I need all of my constituents, no matter your age, to come to the table with that anger, with that passion, and use it together to end this horrific epidemic. It is time that we listen to the words of our children and join them in their efforts to make America a safer and more peaceful place for them and future generations.

I propose that our community leaders work directly with their own constituents on a monthly basis, if not more frequently. Provide space for solutions, tips, strategies, and open communication to provide that support, that forum for discussion and collaboration. Instead of us getting together for candlelight memorials and prayer vigils, let’s get together for coffee and conversation.

In these urgent hours, let’s end the fighting, the defensive posturing, and come to the table together. We are compassionate members of a community in crisis. Let us all act in ways that will end the violence and establish a stronger foundation, in each of our neighborhoods that stretch from coast to coast, for today as well as for tomorrow.