The title of this post is just one of the many powerful statements by Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School student Emma Gonzalez. Take seven minutes and listen:
Emma and her generation are giving me hope for the future. It is both heartbreaking and inspiring to watch these students channel their pain and grief and frustration into a call for action.
Heartbreaking because I’ve lived through so many other tragedies and had my hopes dashed that something would finally happen to end gun violence.
Inspiring because this generation is not messing around. They’re smart, they know who’s to blame, and they’re not afraid to “call BS” on the NRA and the politicians who are perpetuating this horror show.
They’re the ones living through trauma-inducing “active threat” drills at school. They’re the ones whose parents are flocking to buy bullet-proof backpacks. And their friends are dying horribly violent, senseless deaths, right in front of them.
This is not the world they want to live in, and they won’t accept it.