Teach our children young

I heard some folks saying * "Who the hell do these kids think they are? Who the fuck cares what kids want or what they think? We are their parents and our kids will do the hell what we tell them!" All I could say is, "really?" 

Cynicism at its worst.

People forget that young people played a part in bringing down Lyndon Johnson's presidency. They voiced their outrage and fears as they demanded an end to the Vietnam War, and how our government reacted galvanized public sentiment that cost Johnson any aspirations of re-election in 1968.

Now, whether you view the Vietnam War protests as a good thing or not is pretty irrelevant. It's over, it's history. Personally, I think if a nation can ask of its youth to put their lives on the line for a war that our government could not justify, they certainly have a right to voice their displeasure, the right to be listened to, and the right to be taken seriously. 

And exactly with that thought in mind, youth today have begun to organize again, and their exuberance may be the force our nation needs to finally to take action against our nation's addiction to guns. 

Frankly, I look at some of the protesters as heroes. No one may have thought so at the time but their voices, their anger, helped save lives. Will that be the case today?

* Yes, I was personally told this. These are not just glimpses I gleaned from the internet, although I saw these sentiments there too.

So let me answer those three thoughts.

a) Who do kids think they are?

Let's be blunt, today's youth are nothing short of being our future, they are the young men and women we raised them to be. They are future job holders; they are future taxpayers; they are future parents; they are our future leaders,

b) Who cares what kids think?

I do and so should you. We raise our kids to be independent thinkers. At least that's what we say we want. Or do we want them to perpetual mindless self-absorbed zombies? But then some adults get all defensive when kids do not tow the party line. 

I am reminded of when Richard Nixon announced he was going to resign his office in the wake of Watergate. I remember saying, "Nixon was only doing what everyone else has been doing." My stepdad became visibly angry by my naive statement. In my own defense, I did not really believe that this is how we run a nation.

I mean, some adults already think kids are irresponsible and unconcerned by anything beyond texting on another on their cell phones. For politicians who underestimate our kids do so at their own peril. Kids today, voters tomorrow. Any political party who ignores current trends will soon dinosaur themselves out of existence.

c) Our kids will do what we tell them to.

Sure, and I have some beachfront land for sale on Mars. Now think about that for a minute. How many of us when we were our teens' age did our darned best to rebel against our parents' wishes? How many of us wanted to assert ourselves when we teens?

When it comes down to it, yes, kids should do what their parents tell them... drive carefully, don't text while driving, come home soon after school, don't forget your homework, and please for God's sake, act responsibly in all matters sexual! But let us also be realistic enough to know their thoughts may not always be our own.

But tell them what to think?

The shooting in Parkland, if I may appropriate an old historical phrase, has awakened a sleeping giant. If adults cannot be bothered to do the right thing in regards to the senseless violence plaguing our nation, and if we can allow our kids to be endangered from gunmen, can they not also be permitted an opinion about being used as a target?

It remains to be seen how much effect the Walk for our Lives movement will have on this nation. I suspect in the here and now, it may not be easily quantified. And then again, perhaps I am being cynical. 

The NRA effect is profound but wait for the day when our teens become voters. Surviving a school shooting forever changes how victims think and they will not forget what we do now.

Let's face it, we all want more than platitudes. Enough of the "thoughts and prayers." Enough.

A few weeks back a Florida legislator, State Representative Linda Porter took to the Florida legislative floor and pompously, insultingly asked, "We've been told we need to listen to the children and do what the children ask. Are there any children on this floor? Are there any children making laws?

"Do we allow the children to tell us that we should pass a law that says, 'No homework'? Or 'You finish high school at the age of 12' just because they want it so? No.

"The adults make the laws because we have the age. We have the wisdom. And we have the experience to make these laws. We have to make laws with our heads and not with our emotions. Because emotions will lead us astray. However, our common sense and our rationale will not."

We have the wisdom? Really? Our legislators, by my way of thinking, have yet to prove that. Mind my words, Porter's arrogance will come back to bite her in the ass. Mocking future voters is a good way to end one's career.

The survivors of Sandy Hook are now young teenagers. The teens of Parkland stand upon the precipice of voting age. They want answers and they want action. 

A tidal wave is coming. 

Politicians would be fools NOT to recognize that.