The world is yet reeling from the atrocity that took place in Uvalde, Texas last week, wherein 21 people, including 19 children, lost their lives.
That’s 21 sets of hopes and dreams shattered; 21 lights tragically snuffed out due to the reprehensible actions of one evil soul.
Amongst those 21 sets of dreams was that of Tess Marie Mata, a 10-year-old who had set her sights upon one day going viral on TikTok. Sadly, the young girl was too young to have an account on the video platform.
According to CNN, her family is now looking to honor her memory by doing what they can to help fulfill her greatest wish.
Robert Hill, Tess’s uncle, said that what she wanted more than anything else was for one of her dance videos to go viral online.
Since Tess was only 10 and TikTok users have to be 13 years old to be able to create an account, she would regularly make videos and save them to her mother, Veronica’s account instead.
“She had over 150 videos drafted,” Hill explained. “We were going through all of them and talking about how she always wanted one of her dances to go viral.”
Tess was one of 21 victims who lost their lives when a gunman entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas last Tuesday and began to open fire in classrooms.
Local law enforcement have since come under fire for their actions that day, after it was reported that they waited for as long as an hour before entering the school as they were afraid of “getting shot”.
Tess’s family, though obviously yet stricken with grief, intend to see to it that her dream is fulfilled. They picked out one of her dance videos – wherein Tess dances to Don Toliver’s song “No Idea” – and uploaded it in the hope that it will go viral.
The video was posted to TikTok via Veronica’s account, accompanied by the caption:
“My sweet baby girl. She was taken from us because of a senseless act in a mass shooting. I never allowed Tess to post her videos because she was so young. But today I want to celebrate her by trying to fulfill her wish by becoming TikTok famous. #uvaldestrong.”
The likes of Paris Hilton and Lance Bass are amongst those to have commented on the clip so far, helping greatly to push the video closer to achieving Tess’s dream.
“We were excited because after that, we kind of knew that this was going to happen for her,” Tess’s uncle Robert said. “Unfortunately, she just can’t be around to see it.”
My heart still bleeds for those who lost their lives in the devastating attack last week. I hope and pray we can change things in order to make it impossible that such a tragedy can ever unfold again.
Please, share this article to help Tess’s video on its journey towards going viral.
And leave a comment on social media to send love and prayers where they’re needed.
