Picture: https://www.marchforourlives.com/
We are constantly lacing our days with the realization that occurrences which should not be happening are still happening. They happen with much frequency and with consequences that are just as heartbreaking and severe.
The Parkland shooting massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School had the world at a standstill. We were shocked, but we knew how to handle the shock – because we’ve experienced calming this anger and disbelief witch each and every new school shooting that happens.
I sat in front of my computer screen with that same sense of helplessness, as I’m sure many people around the world did. It was a sense of awareness that could not be met with sufficient action. It was a sense of awareness that made you question progress and how small you are compared to the systems that govern the world we live in.
We were shocked yet struggling to come to terms with the fact that this was not something out of the ordinary.
But the aftermath of the shooting was no same old ordinary debate between the people and the government on gun control policies and law restrictions.
The aftermath of the Parkland shooting was a movement – a movement started by students that survived the tragedy and they’ve been making sure that their voices are overpowering the voice of any political agenda being served to the public.
Peaceful protests happen all the time and public dissatisfactions are debated on all the time as well. But these high school students were ready to go an extra mile in reaching out to all platforms at an unprecedented speed.
Being a college student aware on how passionate I am about making a difference on things that are impacting us, I’ve always felt that I had an obligation to wait till I gained more experience so that my opinions would be taken seriously. Yet here these kids were having their speeches televised nationally, sitting in on legislative hearings and carrying out discussions at the CNN town hall with Florida senator Marco Rubio and NRA’s Dana Loesch.
“Can you tell me right now that you will not accept a single donation from the NRA?” asked 17-year-old Cameron Kasky as he stood right before Rubio as a crowd of more than 7, 000 rose in a standing ovation.
Kasky is one of the founders of the Never Again movement, which started off as a simple invitation to a few friends to come over to his house so that they could try and start something that could bring about change.
I had never felt more motivated and inspired watching a group of people younger than me with no experience whatsoever doing anything like this yet standing before the world with the composure and confidence of leaders that have done this for years.
“We call BS!” yelled 18-year-old Emma Gonzalez in her highly televised speech at an anti-gun rally in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
They have called it. There’s no reason for us to not stand up for something as well.