I have been shocked and appalled by the vicious verbal attacks on the students of Marjorie Stoneman Douglas High School and schools across our country as they stand up and speak out on gun violence.
These students have every right to speak out and have the moral authority to do so: they have lived daily with the threat of gun violence in their schools. Too many children have directly experienced a horror most of us could never imagine — watching helplessly as their friends and teachers die at the hands of a shooter with an assault rifle and being terrified for their lives.
The students' March for Our Lives in Washington D.C. brought so many people together all across the country to bring about common-sense gun legislation and reform.
The Parkland students are connecting with young people who live with these daily threats in their neighborhoods as well as in their schools.These courageous and articulate students are taking up the banner we adults have failed to carry to keep them, and all of us, safe. They are smart and have wisdom far beyond their years, perhaps from living with this constant threat to their safety.
I can't imagine what it would be like to go to school every day and wonder if this would be the day my school would experience this horror.
I'm struck by how, in the wake of great trauma, these kids are demonstrating their critical-thinking abilities, which, it seems, their public education has taught them. They can think on their feet, they can express their thoughts and feelings, and they know how to research vital issues.
These students are demonstrating their deep understanding of democracy and what is required of the people who live in a democratic society. We must all educate ourselves about the issues from unbiased sources, we must get involved, we must speak out, we must take action, we must vote.
Commented