My grandfather and I have always had a rather contemptuous relationship, not that he knows that. I usually shut up to avoid getting into a longer argument and upsetting other family members. This morning, I was scrolling Facebook and came across some things my grandpa had shared on his page.

To address the things said in the post he shared, I composed this letter to him in the comments. The following has been adapted from that.

Dear Grandpa,

I've known you my whole life, but somewhere, our beliefs diverged and I developed a way of thought different from yours. Now our thinking is more different than ever, and I want to share my thoughts on all the things you've been saying and sharing recently. I went to a Jewish school pretty early in life. Because of the antisemitism that runs rampant in this country, I was used to people calling in bomb threats to my school and the adjoining temple by the age of 5. I thought that was normal.

When I went to public school, the sentiment still remained. I still had to be prepared for an active shooter on campus. I had to know how to lock and bar doors and stay away from the windows because schools kept getting shot up. It just kept happening. We didn’t know if we were going to be next or not. In my mind, that was something I just had to get used to. It shouldn’t be, though.

Toddlers, middle schoolers, and high schoolers for that matter shouldn’t have to ever worry about someone planting a bomb in their school or coming in with a gun and shooting the place up. I don’t know what further experience you’re looking for that I'm lacking. I know that there were way more school shootings while I was in school than when you were, which, in my mind, is the only experience you need when it comes to constructing an argument on why you don’t want people to be able to bring a gun onto a school campus where there are children. Or are you saying that the kids from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are the ones 'brainwashing' adults? I don't understand how you could say that they have "zero life experience" when they were literally involved in a school shooting. They experienced classmates dying because someone they knew was able to get a gun and bring it on campus. If this isn't life experience regarding the topic of gun control, I don't know what is.

Another post you shared said that you want schools to teach students History and not walkouts and gun control, but that is history. Protest, walkouts, sit-ins, and social change have always been a part of America's history. From the Revolutionary War to The Civil Rights Movement. If you want to keep talking about your rights to own a gun, we'll keep talking about our right to protest peacefully.

Cheers,

Tali