I always thought grown-ups would do whatever was necessary to protect children when I was a kid. Of course, I had the benefit of being raised in a loving home free of violence and abuse which may have clouded that a bit… At 17, when I witnessed my teacher and the school janitor murdered and then held hostage, I watched the adults do adult things and help students, arrest the shooter, manage crowds, etc. I took solace in the words of adults regarding what would happen next, how I would be helped, and how God would use this somehow for the greater good. And in my mind, I knew that the grown-ups “got this” because they were going to make sure to do things to not let things like this happen again.
Thirty years later I’m one of the adults who still don’t “have it”…. We have failed our children. Over 300,000 students have experienced gun violence at their schools since 1999. My experience was in 1993….
I posted my experiences and went on television in the past couple of weeks in a way that exposed myself and my changing opinion to the world… it was scary. Many people liked, loved, and commented on my post and the post of my tv interview … many did not.
This it not a political issue. This is not a religious issue. If you are expecting to take everyone’s guns, hug your guns, or save everyone’s souls with a solution it’s not going to work. While we wait on that more children will die. It may be children you know. It may be children you care about.
Today, I got a text asking me to call my congressman and senators to voice support for the bipartisan gun legislation. I haven’t looked at the bill yet! But I will! And then I will call! And you should too! Because we are the adults! And the kids are expecting us to fix this before they are shot and killed at school and they are worth your time to do so. They are also worth your action and not your silence.
Here’s a link to a story with information about the bill in a Reuter’s story. https://reut.rs/3N48Gkk
