You never think it’s going to happen where you live, except this time it did. On February 14th, 2018, seventeen human beings had their lives taken by senseless gun violence. This event took place in Parkland, Florida, only eleven miles from where I went to high school, and where I spent many of my formative years understanding the cruel world. This school shooting hit home for many reasons and I vowed to myself that I would find a way help, to give back, anything.
Since that unforgettable day, the survivors and family members of the victims have made it their mission to ensure that this mass shooting, this incident, fade away like every mass shooting before it.
That brings us to March 24th, 2018. The March for Our Lives event, held in every state in America and on six different continents. On this day, I joined tens of thousands of people from South Florida as we convened on Parkland at Pine Trails Park to March for those who couldn’t. For the lives of those who had their lives cut short due to unnecessary gun violence.
What made marching in Parkland special is because it was a unified march; people who were not from Parkland, who drove hours to be those in the community, and who suffered incredible losses. Parkland, Florida is a small, affluent town where not much of anything really goes on. It’s family oriented, home to some of the best schools in the county, and it is not somewhere that you would imagine a mass shooting take place.
The morning of the walk felt surreal because I couldn’t quite grasp that tragedy had struck Parkland, which essentially felt like a utopia of sorts. As I stood in line with the crowds waiting to gain entry into Pine Trails Park, I took in my surroundings, spoke with people who came from as far as Miami and Orlando, and who ranged in age from toddler to senior citizens in their 90s.
Many of the signs made harkened back to when people were protesting the Vietnam War, or more recently, the Women’s March last year. When you think about why people marched, it was to start a revolution. The March for our Lives demonstrations/protests are the closest thing that our nation has had in a long time that brought people together for a cause on such a large scale.
The most fascinating part of being with the Parkland community and those who traveled to be there in support is that we were all affected by the shooting in one way or another. Mothers and fathers were there marching because they want to make sure their kids are safe in schools, whether now or in the future. School kids of all ages were there, many who were still mourning the loss of their friends and classmates and teachers and coaches.
This is a community that has experienced trauma and tragedy on an unexplainable scale.
Throughout the course of the program, marchers were listening to many of the student survivors, including Casey Sherman, as well as the fathers of both Gina Montalto and Alex Schachter. Those two speeches had me and I’m sure many others in absolute tears. Their passionate pleas and calls for action to prevent other parents from losing their own children. There were performances by a number of students and community members, including renditions of Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World” and the classic “We Are The World.” For over 2.5 hours, the speakers, each more eloquent than the next, told their story, shared their mission and the goal of the march.
It was at the end of the speeches when seventeen students each walked up to the podium and stated out loud why they were marching, each student marching for one of the seventeen victims of the shooting. Those seventeen instances rang out so prominently and was another means to pay respect to their memories.
As I looked out around the crowd, I saw a diverse but unified crowd. It didn’t matter whether you were black or white, gay or straight, Christian or Jewish, that crowd was one thing only: together.
When the actual march began and we awaited its start, it was led by the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. It was the sight of these students leading the march and in larger part, leading this national movement to change the conversation and raise the important question about our policies on many issues, that evoked more emotion than anything else said that day. These students are heroes in their own right. Without them, without their resilience and their courage, I don’t know if America would be having the conversations they are having today.
In all honesty, when the march approached Stoneman Douglas High School, and people gathered once more to pay their respects, it harkened back memories of images of so many past tragedies, from Sandy Hook to Pulse Nightclub. The fences of the school are lined with banners and posters and flowers as tribute to not only those who have been lost, but also as a reminder that they are not alone. Tragedy doesn’t have to feel isolated, and the memorials to those who were lost are a reminder of the reason why there is a march, the reason why a group of high school students are working tirelessly to shift and effect change.
I am so proud to have taken part in the march today right here in Parkland. In that moment, we were all Stoneman Douglas Eagles and we were doing it in honor of those 17 angels in heaven who were taken too soon. They will never be forgotten and their friends and family are working every day to ensure that.
Featured image via Alex Redelich on Unsplash
