Editor’s note: This is a satirical opinion piece. The names of people mentioned and their quotes are completely fictional. The circumstances of this piece are undoubtedly tragic, and the author kept that in mind while writing this piece. This piece is meant to show how people don’t cause real change with their social media posts, not to make light of the situation or any of the victims.

Local Iowa State student Tanner Howe’s Valentine’s Day took an unexpected turn when he heard about the horrific shooting that occurred in Parkland, Florida, that afternoon.

Howe, a senior at Iowa State, had been spending his afternoon as usual, working on a handful of homework, scrolling through Facebook and taking a nap. In fact, it was when he woke up from a nap around 4:40 p.m. that he first saw news of the shooting.

“I opened Twitter and immediately saw people talking about the shooting,” Howe explained. “Before opening Twitter, I never could have predicted everything that would happen in the next few minutes of my life.”

Howe described in detail the next 60-70 seconds of his afternoon. He said he immediately began to type a new tweet, taking the time to pick each word carefully so the tweet would represent him well.

The tweet ended up saying: “So sad to hear about Florida. Sending positive vibes to all the people who are impacted!!!”

After sending his tweet roughly a minute and a half after first opening Twitter, Howe began another nap at 4:41 p.m. He shared that the rest of his night consisted of eating macaroni and cheese, playing Fortnite and “going out to dollars with the boys.”

Howe said he received positive feedback from the tweet. One friend of his tweeted back, thanking him for “taking action” by sharing his thoughts in response to the shooting.

When asked if he had any plans to speak to his representatives, donate to any causes or actually do any work to prevent future shootings, Howe said he hadn’t thought of it.

Howe added, “Something like that could make for a good Instagram story though.”