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The kids are alright

By Gloria Diaz

Check out Gloria's Blog — Edge of Gloria!

Fort Wayne Reader

2018-03-15

By the time you read this the March 14th gun protest walkout will be done, but there's more to follow on April 20th which will be the 19th year anniversary of the Columbine massacre.

I've tried not to read too much about this on Facebook but I find it extremely interesting that the individuals who are against the protest are pretty rabid about the second Amendment and it just kind of makes me wonder why that is. Because if our rights are so important how come so many people want to trample on the First Amendment?

I mean doesn't it seem odd that words can be so threatening to people? Lots of freedom fighters/fans seem pretty adamant about crushing First Amendment rights. C'mon! They're just words, right?

I mean you can tell somebody that you think they're a stupid moronic jerk but that's it — that person didn't die. The First Amendment seems the one right that people seem pretty much willing to ditch, but God forbid we give up our guns.

And a lot of these people who are upset at kids exercising their First Amendment rights seem to think that all they're doing it for is to get out of school for 17 minutes or a day or however long they're planning to protest. I don't know; I consider myself a very cynical person, but I don't think it's about getting out of school for a few minutes.

I find it really interesting that our rights are only ladled out to us if we are of a certain age, or ethnicity, because it seems to me kids are supposed to protest on their own time and football players are supposed to kneel on their own time and blah blah blah blah blah, so you're not supposed to protest or stand up for yourself at work. Those of you reading this while you're on vacation, or during the weekend, or on lunch break might want to think a bit about your time off from work, and who fought for those rights. I'll give you a hint — they didn't do it on their own time, because no one would have cared. People are scared and pissed off at these kids exercising their first amendment rights because no one else is willing to address the problem.

And it is a problem. Sorry gun folks, but it IS a problem when kids aren’t safe while trying to get an education. I know that the gun people are also trying to point out the fact that bullying is also a problem, but kids don't seem to be standing up against THAT.

Point taken. But since mental health is something not addressed for the adult population, why would we care about kids mental health?

Being a kid is hard enough and God knows I'm still dealing with the effects of being bullied decades ago. I don't think bullying should be considered a rite of passage, like some people do. But to be honest, I'm really glad that I went to school in the time that I did, because I never once thought about somebody coming in to my middle school or high school and shooting up the place. I'm really kind of horrified and ashamed that I live in a country where this is commonplace. If it were once a year, that would be bad enough, but seeing this week after week after week after week after week… well this sucks. If this is the new "normal", it's no wonder these kids want to walk out.

Do you go to work every day thinking that you might get shot? It's one thing if you're a cop or you're in the mob or you're in the army or someplace where having a weapon is legitimate because it's literally kill or be killed, but it's a really, really bad idea to arm kids. It's a really bad idea to have armed guards in schools, and it is a legit bad bad horrible idea to arm teachers I mean I can see it now: Tommy spit out your gum. Tommy: Make me, bitch. Shootout ensues. Chewing gum stock soars, and Tommys gum of choice gets a new marketing spin: Bubble Yum: When you want to say f you to your teacher.

I guess to get all lathered up about chewing gum is not maybe a good example, but people and guns… yeah sometimes they don't make the best decisions or the best combinations either.

I'm so glad that I am not a school-age person these days but as an educator who wants to do more with education, my life may very well be on the line someday.

What’s that Bible verse? "And a little child shall lead them"? What do you have to say about THAT, gun folks?

Something else the kids probably picked up in school is this: Nothing great ever happened without someone taking a stand in saying this is b*******.