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September 5, 2018
Climate Change in My Eyes
by Sonia Zinkin-Meyers
#4 – March, 2018
On February 14th, a 19 year old former student at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida broke in and started shooting. 17 people at the school died. In the aftermath of the shooting, grieving students have been speaking out, giving new life to the decades old issue of gun control. However, some people have been questioning the kids’ strength and the validity of their fight. They say that students aren’t qualified, that they aren’t thinking straight.
But even those people can see that there is a reason why no one has forgotten about the Parkland shooting. It has stayed front and center, all thanks to the courageous students who have taken up the fight. Without those kids, gun control would have once again faded into the background. So never again can someone be justified in saying that kids are powerless, or that they don’t know what they are doing. Kids are most vulnerable, and we have to work just a little harder to be heard. So we have as much grit and determination as anyone, and anyone who thinks kids don’t know what they are talking about has never met anyone like the thousands of kids who are working hard every day to get things done.
Most people praise the kids, but some seem surprised at this level of determination and eloquence, coming from such young people, who are going through such grief. But they shouldn’t be. My generation is fearless, mature, and politically aware. We are willing to organize protests, campaign for our rights, make great sacrifices, and put in hard work, like the Parkland students have been doing. Everyone one of us if capable of real change. In the environmental movement, kids can make change, and have reason to be more determined than anyone else. My generation will suffer the most, and we will not let people who won’t even be around to witness what lies in store for us dictate our future.
