“Welcome to the revolution.” — Cameron Kasky, Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student
It’s about time.
As long as I can remember, we have fought an uphill battle in the move for gun control. You notice I do not take the politically malleable “gun violence” route, for it is gun control we want and gun control we need.
For decades this uphill battle has given us heartbreakingly tragic opportunities. Columbine. Virginia Tech. Orlando. Sandy Hook, for God’s sake, when 20 elementary school children were mowed down in a merciless bloodbath. And of course, Parkland. Not to mention the other 270 school shootings in the last 20 years, yes 270. Probably more by the time you read this.
On March 24, I attended (with most of my family), the March for Our Lives in Ukiah. I was awestruck by the passion and composure of the student speakers. Inspired, in fact.
In spite of myself, I came away with a glint of hope. My generation has failed our country with our inability to effect common sense gun laws. This generation, by God, they just may be able to do it. Self-absorbed millennials? Not here, not on this day.
These young leaders, one after the other, stood in front of the crowd of about 500 people. They read speeches and poetry, filled with angst and anger about what this country has allowed to happen — an open arms approach to the NRA and its weak argument that to restrict the so-called right to bear arms is unconstitutional.
Want to put together well-regulated militias? I will support your right to bear arms. Want to grab an assault rifle that can fire 400 rounds a minute? Uh, no. It’s called an assault rifle for a reason. It assaults. It is designed for one thing only, to kill.
What of the arguments about more attention to mental issues? Absolutely. Yet, let’s hear from Frank Hall, the high school football coach who, in 2012, stood up to a school shooter in Ohio and saved who knows how many lives. As Frank says, “Let’s take away the means, then work on the cause.” What could be simpler, or make more sense? Alas, common sense and moral compasses seem to have gone the way of Rolodexes, phone booths and laserdiscs.
Yet, all around this country, students are taking the fight into their energetic hands, standing tall, moving confidently, rallying the masses and leaving the so-called political leaders choking in the dust of their own spineless inaction. Hey, Rick Santorum, better learn some CPR for your dying party. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
These brave young men and women deserve — no, demand our attention, our support. Their startling demands? To live in a country where one doesn’t have to worry about being shot down in algebra class, at the movies, at the mall, at work, at a concert; one where we should not have to be wary of the guy next to us at a national park who might be packing.
They long for a nation that reputes the killing marching that is the NRA, a country that votes out of office the plethora of cowards who take blood money from that organization just to keep their grubby little jobs. It’s time to kick them to the curb and remember what Barack Obama said about waking up every morning and finding a way to be useful that day.
I tried to get the names of these amazing Ukiah students. I contacted the school, but got no help there, so I pieced together a partial list from the online news sources and social media: Indigo Funk (you will be hearing from this dynamic young man soon – and for a long time, if we’re lucky), Juan Gonzalez, Gracianne Kirsch and Caramia Putman. My apologies to those I left out.
One young man read a viscerally powerful original poem; here is a brief passage:
Brutal barbaric comedies, amorous affectionate war films
Sugary doughnuts, dazzling dandies
Romantic pleas, saccharine roommates, poetic fliers
Crying children, baseball diamonds, mortified youth
Tit-tat, tit-at
My father-in-law sought him out after and remarked how he would love to get a copy of it, so the young man handed us his handwritten page. Sadly I neglected to get his name. But in that moment he let us all know that it wasn’t about him; it was about the message, not the messenger.
It seems youth, in fact, is not wasted on the young. On this day and many to come, the students shall be the teachers — real leaders who will blaze that trail fearlessly with tenacity, honor, integrity and vision.
It’s time to Make America Sane Again, and I know just the people to do it.
Steven welcomes your comments. You can reach him at [email protected]
