How many more people will die before America says ENOUGH? Will the horrific murders of 17 innocent people at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida go down in history as just another statistic? America needs more than thoughts and prayers right now. What we need is hope. We need action. We need change.
On Valentine’s Day, seventeen beautiful lives were snuffed out.
Those students and teachers will never again see an incredible sunrise.
Laugh at a silly joke with loved ones.
Never celebrate their next birthdays.
Sit down to Thanksgiving dinner with their families.
They will never have the chance to follow their dreams.
Think of the scientific discoveries they might have made. Cures for devastating diseases they might have invented. Successful businesses they may have started. Books, songs, and poems that will never be written. The lives they would have touched. The difference they would have made. What a waste!
The loss of every life shatters the hearts of their families and communities. But it’s more than the sorrow of individual families. There’s a ripple effect throughout our country and into the future. Our collective national anguish at these senseless deaths should galvanize every single one of us to stand with the students leading the #NeverAgain Movement. Their voices and their actions point the way to a more hopeful, peaceful future for all of us.
Our collective national anguish at these senseless deaths should galvanize every single one of us to stand with the students leading the #NeverAgain Movement.
Searching for answers, we look to our government leaders for a way to end this violence and what do we get? “Thoughts and prayers,” platitudes, and from the President a call to arm the teachers so they can “solve the problem instantly, before police arrive. Far more assets at much less cost than guards.” What kind of insanity is this?
Unbelievably some on the right are attacking the survivors as “crisis actors” and dupes of the far left. Why?
Because they are speaking out and demanding action on common sense gun control.
Pleading for safer schools.
Thorough background checks for those who want to buy guns.
They aren’t trying to do away with the 2nd Amendment or undermine our values as some are claiming.
These courageous young people are mourning the senseless deaths of their friends and teachers but they are strong and resilient and refuse to be silenced. They want to honor those who were massacred by changing laws that make it much too easy to buy a weapon designed for war and walk into a school to slaughter people. Their movement should give us all hope. They are leading the way to the changes America needs.
They are shouting “ENOUGH!”
And every single one of us needs to stand with them.
No one else should die because of senseless gun violence.
Speak out because your voice matters. Because when you speak up, it gives others hope and courage to speak up too.
Do the right thing because your actions matter, because that’s where change happens.
Demand that politicians act for the good of the country, not just their particular party and big donors.
Vote for those working to end this madness.
Enough is enough!
Together we can spread hope and beauty and transform our world.
10,000 Butterflies is dedicated to planting hope and growing change. Every one of us has the power to create positive change — in our own lives and in the lives of others. Together we can solve problems and build stronger communities. 10,000 Butterflies is a place to connect with others making good things happen, to find resources, to be inspired and to celebrate what connects us instead of what divides us.
Please join us.
Bonnie Pond is the founder of the 10,000 Butterflies Project and author of The Power of Three: How to be Happy and Get What You Want in Life (Without Doing Anything Illegal, Immoral, or Unethical) and Unlock Your Creativity: 30 Days to a More Creative YOU!
