But then again...
There was a group in all this that I didn't count on. Teenagers. Today's teenagers in 2018.
The Florida shooting unleashed pissed off, media savvy, entitled to the spotlight teenagers and the rest of us adults couldn't handle it.
If you are over 35 and white - the big decisions may be beyond us. We aren't going to stop global warming, we aren't going to stop gun violence, we aren't going to stop sexual harassment.
But these kids might. and not just the universal "kids." These kids.
When we were kids we couldn't. We were too scared and too immersed in the way things were.
Today's kids are smarter, bolder, harder to embarrass, out-of-the-box starter kits for talking with the press and politicians. Their entire worldview is based on their belief that they are special and that no adult can contain them. And damn it, they are right.
And they actually aren't jerks about it. They grew up believing that they were equal to adults and therefore could talk to adults as adults. That fact removes the filter that I and we were born with. The filter that told us to comply. And when I say that, I don't mean that we didn't protest and march and roll our eyes at "the man." of course we did. that is what all kids are supposed to do.
But these kids today...they were born ready to actually talk to adults. To have a conversation - from the moment they could actually speak. And they have and they are. They aren't protesting as much as they are forcing their way into the conversation. We didn't. We just yelled. These kids speak and converse.
And the establishment can't handle it and the establishment might actually cave to them. Because the establishment is terrified of them. There are too many of them and they represent an incomprehensible market of buyers and consumers. Old crusty politicians are afraid of them, because they - unlike us - will vote them out. Retailers who sell guns are terrified of them because they know that 12 of them can get on social media and put a billion dollar sporting goods chain out of business.
They don't stop, because they don't have to stop. When we got mad as teenagers, we held a protest, staged a sit-in and then a day or a week later we would have to get back to our lives - to our school or homework or whatever.
These kids? They can protest 24-7 and still do all their assignments, keep up with their friends and be entertained all at the same time.
They never go away.
The NRA relies on laziness. On the latest school shooting to last about 1.5 news cycles and then fizzle because we adults have work and kids and dinner etc.
But that won't work this time. These kids can keep up their grades AND keep up the pressure.
Relentlessly.
