COTTONWOOD HEIGHTS, Utah – On Jan. 6 as most of the world was watching the riot unfold at the U.S. Capitol, a Utah teen did something that surprised us.

Rather than turn off the TV or change the channel, Lauren Passey sat down and wrote KSL an email.

What she had to say can be a lesson for all of us.

When much of the world was watching what was happening in Washington, D.C. on January 6th a Utah teen did something that surprised us here at KSL. She wrote us an email. Her message is a powerful one and she deserves to be heard. pic.twitter.com/8zYFJesUtS

— KSL 5 TV (@KSL5TV) January 20, 2021

Dear whoever will end up reading this,

I’m just a kid. Sometimes you grown ups underestimate how much we see and hear on the news and what we understand of it. I can tell you right now that it is not hard for any elementary or middle school student to get access to news.

But right now and frankly this whole year it’s been hard to even look at the news and still be proud and feel safe wherever you live. Especially on the date that is today in which I saw that people were storming capitals.

It made me a lot less proud to be living here. Because that isn’t how our country should act. Because countries are much more than just money, borders, and political stuff. They are full of people. Individual people who all have their own stories. I don’t really care who you are.

Most kids act better than most adults nowadays. They are kinder and adults can be too. I know they can. Because if I were a parent I wouldn’t want my children to be growing up in the state that our country has fallen into. So please for the sake of all the kids out there who are scared right now and that don’t know what is going on and are growing up seeing these things on TV and accessing these things all the time.

Change our future. Make it better. We’re learning about history but it’s starting to become unclear if you guys have learned from the history you were also once taught. I just need to know at this point if this country is really together. We aren’t staying true to our values. We aren’t being united. Our name is the United States of America but please remember that a name isn’t just a name.

It really does mean something. And ours should mean that we are united and that we can be proud of where we live. I really want to be proud of this country but it’s really hard right now. So please, make us proud to live here.

Sincerely,
A teen with an important message.