When you're 14 years old, you should be most worried about what to wear to your first homecoming dance. When you're 15 years old, you should be most worried about your crush and whether or not they like you back. When you're 16, it should be the grade you get on your AP US History exam, and when you're 17, it should be choosing a college.
However, the students and victims of the recent Parkland school shooting had to be worried about something no student should ever have to be worried about: their lives. Sadly, this situation has pertained to the multiple school shootings that have taken place through the years, and no progress has been made to break the chain.
America has gone numb. School and mass shootings have become routine, to the point where people have regarded them as the norm. This situation is far from normal, and the sooner we wake up, the sooner this nightmare ends.
As students and educators, as parents and family members, and as friends and loved ones, it is time to take a stand. Points need to be made, lines need to be drawn, and voices need to be heard.
Most importantly, there are streets that need to be marched on. Streets that need to be marched on by high top Converses and basketball shoes. Streets that need to be marched on by every member of every adolescent clique in every school across the nation. No matter who you are or where you are from, we are all affected by this, and it’s time to take a stand. It’s time for the students to handle what grown adults can’t. It’s time to break the chain.
