Why I'm marching: Parkland shooting survivors reflect in their own words ahead of March for Our Lives
Thousands of students from around the country are descending upon Washington , D.C., and organizing in their local communities, to take part in the "March for Our Lives" rally to call for gun reform and school safety measures.
Students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida , where 17 students lost their lives on Feb. 14, are leading the charge, organizing together and demanding that their voices be heard and that their safety be a priority.
Three students on the student newspaper at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, who are marching in Washington, D.C., together, reflect on how their lives have changed since the deadly school shooting five weeks ago, why they are marching and what their message is for lawmakers and the world.
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My name is Leni Steinhardt, and I am currently a sophomore at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. On Feb. 14, I ran for my life in fear that I would lose it. I called my parents one last time to tell them I loved them, just in case I never got to again. I heard gunshots go off and chaos around me.
Why does this sound like a war zone? This is a school that I am talking about. More importantly, my school that I am talking about.
Allow me to reintroduce myself, my name is Leni Steinhardt and I am a survivor of a school shooting. That should never be a sentence any 16-year-old should have to write.
My innocence was stripped away from me as I lost my fellow classmates and faculty to gun violence.
I can still see the chaos in the hallways when I close my eyes. I am traumatized.
On Feb. 14, I was in chemistry class sitting at my desk taking notes. Ten minutes before the bell would have rung, I heard the first gunshot go off. I looked up from my notes and looked around my classroom. No one knew what the sound was and neither did my teacher.
She walked to the door and glared out the window to see if anything had happened, but she didn't see anything. She told us to continue back to our notes. Since it was Valentine’s Day, my whole class had just assumed that a Valentine's Day balloon had popped or someone had dropped a textbook in the hallway, which happens more than you would think.
Not even ten seconds later, the fire alarm went off, which was weird because we just had a drill during second-period. At the time, I was unaware of just how different my life would be the second I walked out that door. I headed out of the classroom and paused at the sound of screaming.
I looked towards the freshman building where I saw students, teachers, and other faculty screaming and running. Then all of a sudden, I heard several gunshots go off. My teacher, who had not yet left the classroom, ran out and told me and my classmate that they announced on the intercom to evacuate. I ran towards the closest stairwell which led to the teachers’ parking lot. Mid-way down the stairwell, a teacher screamed that it was a code red and that someone with a gun on-campus was shooting.
I ran back up the stairs and down the same hallway. Two librarians, who were holding their door open pulled me and a couple other students into the teachers’ lounge in the back of the library. They locked the doors behind us and rushed us into a large closet towards the back of the room.
I hid underneath a computer cart squished up against many other students. For two hours I hid in fear that I would die until a SWAT team rescued me.
For two hours, a high schooler should be playing video games, doing homework, or learning a math lesson.
For two hours, a student should not be cramped up in the corner of a dark classroom while their fellow classmates are dying.
Since that day, any loud noise is a trigger. I jump anytime I hear someone scream and flinch every single time someone knocks on the door. I can't help myself from imagining the worst.
I can no longer walk down the same path I did when I heard the first few gunshots. A safety blanket I was once hiding under is no longer there. I will never be the same. I look around at my amazing community coming together at a time like this, asking the government to evoke policy and change.
On March 24, I will be marching in honor of the 17 angels who no longer have their own voice in the world. I will be marching so no student has to ever call their parents and tell them that they love them one last time. I am marching to show that my generation will make the changes that prior generations couldn't.
https://www.yahoo.com/gma/why-im-marching-parkland-shooting-survivors-reflect-own-140204478--abc-news-topstories.html
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The anti-war movement in the 60's was eventually instrumental in ending the Viet Nam war. But it took years. These students today need to carry this forward over what will again be a matter of years. I wish them well as they start out.
It's not the first time a group of knuckleheads has marched in Washington exposing their idiocracy.
That is low even for you, someone without standards.
One of the components of this march is educating peers on the importance of voting and what they can accomplish by voting.
I agree that it will be a challenge trying to maintain this level of passion and dedication but I'm optimistic. As a parent, there is nothing more motivating to a teen then to be told by a bunch of adults that they can't do something.
I'm counting on the adults who are happy with the status quo to continue telling these kids they are irrelevant and their opinions don't matter.
Locking temporarily because I will be off line. (not that this article is getting much traction - lol)