Brilliant … But Bouncy

No One Did Anything To Stop It.

Today there was a nationwide walkout to protest the never-changing gun laws in this country. Started by the teenage survivors from Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida, the walkout included 17 minutes of silence at 10:00 in the morning – one minute for every victim of the Valentine’s Day shooting spree.

Here in the Hawkins household, this was a rather controversial event – but not for the reason you might think.

First of all, we still have a postcard from Sandy Hook Elementary School displayed on the front of our refrigerator. It reminds me every day of the tragic event that occurred there in 2012.

The postcard is a thank you letter from the school for the snowflakes we made and sent to the survivors of that tragedy. When the students returned to Sandy Hook, it was festively decorated with snowflakes from all over the world, letting the kids know that they were not alone in their suffering.

It was the least we could do. And it was the only thing that was done.

No one did anything to stop it from happening again – and again and again and again.

So when the opportunity came up for this walkout, which invited high schools all over the country to participate, our entire family was on board. I made sure I had the day off of work, so that I could transport Dylan down to Washington, DC, where thousands of kids would be congregating. And Shane’s middle school organized their own walkout – to the tennis courts behind the school – where they observed the 17 minutes of silence in their way, even though they were only in middle school.

Dylan, however, decided to go to school. He didn’t want to miss his play rehearsal, which happened after school. The administration said that if kids were absent it would be unexcused – meaning that any work could not be made up – and they were not allowed to return to campus for any extracurriculars, including play practice during the most important rehearsal week of the year.

The play opens in two days.

So Dylan went to school. Seven hundred kids – nearly half of the school population – was not there, but Dylan was.

He texted kids in other schools, and got Snap Chats of kids who were at the DC march. He knew he was missing something important, but he had weighed the consequences, like an adult. He was only missing one walkout, in favor of something that was also important to him.

In addition, he knew that our family is already registered for the larger, possibly more impactful “March for Our Lives” protest march that will take place next Saturday. There is an additional walkout planned for April 20 – the anniversary of the Columbine shooting – one of the “first” school massacres – which happened before Dylan was even born. 

That’s how long nothing has been done.

I reminded Dylan of this, via text, as we were chatting about the importance of changing the gun laws.

“We can’t just let it die out,” he texted back. He is ready to march.

And he is right.

This time, please God, let’s do something.