Generation Enough Is Enough

Teenagers are good now, pass it on. Look, it’s easy to get depressed and cynical about our current state of politics. It’s easy in a different way to ignore it all and say nothing that happens in Washington D.C. has an impact on your life. But, the truth is, things are hard and if you care about he welfare of other human beings – especially those who look differently from you or have less advantages than you – they’re only getting harder.

But, here’s the good thing. The children, they’re listening. And they’re not listening to the naysayers and they’re not listening to the head-in-the-sand crowd. They’re listening to themselves and deciding for themselves what they will accept in their country. And what they refuse to accept is that being shot in their classroom while they are trying to learn is just a fact of life.

One of the wonderful things about youth is you don’t realize what you can’t do. The limitations we all accept, they don’t. Sure, it works against them sometimes – with risky behavior and false confidence. Just ask adult who has ever buckled in and let their teen drive them around. But, in other ways it’s a gift. They don’t know how intractable an issue guns are supposed to be in America. They don’t know we’re supposed to be hopelessly deadlocked. They don’t know the supposed iron grip the NRA is has on the GOP. Or, better yet, they do and they don’t care.

National Walkout Day should be an inspiration for all of us, the young and the old and the anywhere in between. Thousands of students at schools across this vast country refused to accept the norm of “thoughts and prayers” with no action in response to senseless gun violence. They refused to be target practice for the next angry man who should never have had access to guns in the first place. They refused to fear for their lives in a place that should be a safe haven.

Regular, horrific mass murder is something we should never become numb to. Thank these young people for reminding us what we can and can’t accept as a society. Gun control is something most Americans want. Yet here we are. So, to everyone 18 and over, vote in every.single.election. If they won’t protect the next generation of voters, we will all vote them out together.