Kids at our school joined kids across the country and world in walking out to protest gun violence and call for more gun safety. My son’s school took part, as well, and I’m glad they did. Students and young people have been at the forefront of social movements forever. They have energy and unbridled passion, once they get their minds on something. I believe strongly in the power of social action to shift the conversation. Don’t believe it? Just look at what these kids have done – they’ve done the impossible! They have kept a story in the news for an entire month. In a time where almost nothing is in the news for more than a day or two, maybe a week if it’s really scandalous, the gun violence and safety issue is still in the press, still on the minds of lawmakers, still in our collective extremely short span of attention.

I am hopeful this will affect change and that the passion won’t dwindle in the face of other crises and problems. Just the other day, there was a drive-by shooting with a rifle about a mile or two west of us. A pregnant 18 year old woman was killed by a man two blocks from our house just the other night. There are threats at local schools, and just today, I saw a story that a teacher who was trained to carry a gun accidentally shot the ceiling during class, injuring 3 students. It doesn’t sound like much – three – but that entire class is freaked out, and probably the entire school. Even the most careful individuals can have accidents – I know because I’ve seen it happen first person.

I don’t have all the answers to the gun problem. I know it’s not as simple as just banning the manufacture and possession of some weapons, although I do think that’s a start. We have to deal with the access to weaponry and that’s likely the first step. Then we have to deal with the underlying issues that cause the violence in the first place: toxic masculinity, anger, untreated depression (leading cause of suicide), lack of access to resources, and other tensions. It’s a really long road.

I used to tell my students that the generation before mine screwed up a lot of things, and my generation is kind of in the middle, unsure of what to do and honestly just trying to get by (I’m on the tail end of Gen X, kind of an Xennial). My generation is really good at pointing out the problems and being critical. Their generation and the generations after are going to have to find ways to fix the problems and improve the world. They would nod thoughtfully at this notion.

Now, I think they might be starting to do it. I couldn’t be happier.