Courageous Students Demand Change After Horrific School Shooting in Florida

It was suppose to be a day to celebrate love-Valentine's Day and also it was Ash Wednesday 2018 and the beginning of Lent. After returning from Mass that afternoon, with a large ash cross on my forehead, I soon realized this was going to be a very sad day. It would be a Lent from hell for some families from Parkland, Florida, who heard the unthinkable and tragic news that day. Their precious children and some adults would be gunned down in what should be a safe place, their high school.
That a deranged and hate-filled teenager could buy an assault rifle so easily even though he had clear mental issues is a disgrace.
And now the students say, "enough is enough." Adults in power have failed them. They want to be the voice of the dead, who can no longer speak for themselves. Those who have no voice now should not have died a violent death in vain. Their friends and fellow students are demanding change. And lots of people are behind them.
Today, a week from that dreadful day, President Trump had a listening session at the White House and he heard from distraught parents who have lost children in deadly school shootings and students who witnessed them. Let's hope he acts wisely.
Where is the hope? The hope is that students across America want change and are demanding change. They want sensible gun laws and more serious background checks for those who want to buy guns.
I'm hopeful that, over time, they will make a difference. They're eloquent and brave and are impressing a lot of people, including me. My prayers are with them.
NJA

Let us not seek the Republican answer or the Democratic answer, but the right answer. Let us not seek to fix the blame for the past, let us accept our own responsibility for the future. 
President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)