Good work, kids, keep fighting

Several local schools took part in a national protest movement Wednesday by walking outside for 17 minutes to make a statement about school violence and to mourn the loss of 17 people in Parkland Florida last month. This is a wonderful thing, no matter what side of the gun debate you fall on.

If you’re here to look for our position on guns, you’re in the wrong place. If you’re here to argue one side or the other of the gun debate, please move along.

What gives us a glimmer of hope for the future of our society is that children want to get involved. Our kids are using social media and technology to spread a message and to encourage other kids to get involved in trying to make a change in our society.

One thing we can all agree on is that we need to do something to stop school shootings. There should be no argument against that point.

The big debate about HOW we address school violence is where we can get lost.

For right now, we need to stand beside these kids who are right now trying to find their voice in a world that is shouting them down at every turn.

In a few short years, these children will be the people voting along side us. They will be our peers and coworkers. They will be taking care of us as we get old. They will be raising the next generations to follow them.

Instead of telling them to sit down and go back inside, which is sadly a repeated sentiment in some circles, we should be encouraging them to fight for what they believe in. Besides, no harm can come from a 20-minute break in the school day to feel engaged in the political process.

The sad part of the criticism of this action is that it is mostly coming from the same people who said it was okay for the tikitorch crowd to have their “white power” demonstration because they were exercising their right to free expression. When that happened, there were a lot of people saying that they don’t agree, but they would fight for the right to express those horrible views.

What changed between then and now? Why wouldn’t you fight for these young people’s right to express their views?

It doesn’t matter if you agree with the point they are making, we should listen to that point and engage them in the process.

Politically active and fired up youth are what we need to pump new blood into a system that they feel has failed them.

Protest is patriotism.