President Bone Spurs - Turned Away in Disgust While a Man Was Bleeding to Death in Front of Him

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52. Welcome to DU, No-Bozos!

Can't say this often enough - I am BEYOND proud, like Over-The-Moon proud, of these kids! Since I'm "Miss Mid-60", I think I can call them kids. These high school students - in Parkland Florida and across the country, who have stepped up to the front lines of this particular battleground - it's hard to find sufficient words of praise for them. It's hard to express the depth of how proud of them I am, and impressed with them, and damn grateful to them! This has been an issue of mine for quite a while.

It's been an issue of mine ever since I lost two friends to ONE Single Argument - and a gun within easy reach. BLAMM! And then BLAMM! again, and both of them are gone. Both of 'em extremely knowledgeable about guns, living in a gun-oriented rural community, legally qualified and licensed to carry and use, having learned the ropes at a very tender age, even working with the police. Gone. All it took was ONE argument, and a handy-dandy gun in the house.

It's been an issue of mine ever since I realized that the reason a classmate of mine was so quiet, and kept to herself all the time. It's because of her two brothers. She used to have THREE brothers. Until the day I learned that the three of them had gone to a legitimate, legally operated and licensed professional gun range. All it took was ONE bullet that ricocheted. And one of her brothers was dead. Instantly. Gone.

I belong to a couple of different gun violence activism groups. We tried after Sandy Hook. Hell, some of us tried after John Lennon was shot. And during the late 60s, when I was starting to wake up to political activism, after Martin Luther King Jr. and Bobby Kennedy got shot.

Some of us have been working on this that long - and even longer. And look how successful we haven't been.

I LOVE these kids. I appreciate them so doggone much! I'm SO proud of them and how gutsy and passionate they are. I hope they mean it - that they're not going to go away and they're not going to forget and they're not going to quiet down about this. I hope they mean it, and do it, and I will be behind them all the way. They're going to make some (maybe many?) of the urgently-needed changes we tried to achieve but couldn't. Maybe because they went straight to social media and reporters' microphones and podiums instead of dissolving into low-key candlelight prayer vigils. Instead of making quiet, passive statements, they immediately switched on Active-mode, making noise, speaking out, going on the offensive. And they're young, passionate and energetic. They don't have years and years of frustration and reversals and neglect and legislative defeat that's had a chance to threaten or dampen their spirit.

I hope they remain fired up. I hope they never fail to vote. And I hope a bunch of 'em run for office. We need them more than even they know.