February 14, 2018

In the most prosperous country in the world
families always live in fear.
On February 14, 2018
parents and students across the country
were totally lost in tears.

Every morning before parents drop their children
at school, they silently pray:
"Please protect my child from any danger and harm.
Please keep this school from all evils.
Please make it a safe place for children to learn
and have a good time with friends and teachers."
As parents are hugging and kissing goodbye to their children
in front of  the school, they silently pray:
"Please protect this school from all wrongdoers.
Please let me see my child again unharmed after school."

In the most prosperous country in the world
families have been living in terror for many many years.
Teachers and students, as little as kindergarteners,
have been exercising lockdown drills
for terror is part of their daily life
it is a norm to learn to "stop, drop and cover",
to "make your body as small as you can"
in order to survive a mass massacre.
Such is a routine - part of life in post-modern era
in the most prosperous country in the world.

Would prayers be able to protect children from evils?

Aren't they just echoes in an echo chamber?
After February 14, 2018
parents are frustrated and scared,
students feel empty and angry
going back to school
their 17 friends and teachers there no more.

In the most prosperous country in the world
politicians ramble on and on to get elected
from their mouths spat out big words
"Freedom", "Justice", "Democracy",
"Fraternity", "Equality".....
During campaigns it is so simple and easy for them
to blame their opponents, rivals and enemies.
It is extremely difficult for them to learn
to listen to the people's sufferings
to feel families' stunning shocks and stupefying losses
to learn to care about and to learn to love
the speechless, the weakest, the most vulnerable.

Use your votes, not your prayers
to protect children from wrongdoers.
Use your right to voice for the speechless,
the innocents people who could voice no more
who didn't know why their lives were ended
at such a young age
in the school they loved so much.
From their graves
and from every corner on earth 
I hear echoes:
How many more to die?

If in the most prosperous country in the world
law makers have sold their souls to the devils and serve the evils,
I would rather be a disobedient citizen,
living unarmed among chimps and gorillas in the jungle.






 

March for Our Lives Campaign

"We are losing our lives while the adults are playing around." 

Cameron Kasky, student survivor from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School



"It is absolutely insane that a 19-year-old cannot purchase alcohol but can walk in and buy an AR-15 - a weapon of war, by all means a weapon of mass destruction."

Alex Wind, student survivor from
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
 


"If the president wants to come up to me and tell me to my face that it was a terrible tragedy and... how nothing is going to be done about it, I'm going to happily ask him how much money he received from the National Rifle Association."
"To every politician who is taking donations from the NRA - shame on you!"


Emma Gonzalez, who took cover on the floor of her secondary school's auditorium during the attack



According to the Center for Responsive Politics, the NRA spent $11.4m (£8.1m) supporting Mr Trump in the 2016 campaign, and $19.7m opposing Hillary Clinton.


Join March for Our Lives Campaign - March 24, 2018

Join in the online #MeNext? Campaign

Join in the Never Again Campaign

"Adults have failed us. Everyday, we students walk into school with the promise of an education without threat of violence. However, it has become increasingly clear that hallways of schools across America are no longer a guaranteed safe haven. Whether it's an elementary school in small-town Connecticut or a high school in Florida, it's become apparent that school shootings are becoming an expected part of American life. Since 2013, there have been 291 school shootings, with 18 of them happening in 2018 alone. We simply ask how many shootings will it take, how many innocent children have to die, until adults decide we, as our nation's children, are more important than our nation's guns. Therefore, we ask our fellow students to take it upon ourselves to stand up as our adults remain sitting. We demand change.

While most students cannot vote, we are not voiceless to our society. There are about 56 million K through 12 students in the United States. If we mobilize this population -- by signing petitions, contacting lawmakers, and utilizing social media -- we can make our presence felt. Ultimately, our goal is to pressure lawmakers to make comprehensive and responsible gun control policy to keep our schools and society safe.
It's not a matter of if anymore, it's a matter of when we will be affected. "
Students For Gun Legislation

Source:

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-43105701