Saturday, March 24, 2018

#ENOUGH

Enough
In days of old when I was a student,
or,
in days of old when I was a high school English teacher,
we might have had a word study lesson in English class.

Enough,
an adjective,
describes when need or want is sufficient or adequate.
I have had enough nonsense.

Enough,
a pronoun,
used in place of a noun to denote adequate quantity or sufficiency.
Have you had enough?

Enough,
 can be used as an adverb of degree.
Yes, I’ve experienced enough of this nonsense.

Enough,
an interjection.
Enough!  Stop this nonsense.

The students in today’s schools have lessons to teach the rest of us before they can continue to learn traditionally taught lessons on English, math, science, history, civics.

Enough!
an interjection has become a rallying cry.

#Enough
The symbol and word began to appear in social media sites after the school shooting last month.
The symbol and the word already denote a visual message that stands for:
No more gun violence.
No more school shootings.

#Enough
written on poster board and lifted high,
becomes the symbol for a movement.

#Enough
Using this word as a rally cry,
 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
 unite, organize,
 and bring together hundreds of thousands of other students
 to march in cities across the nation to send a message to the leaders of this country that they want action against gun violence now.


#Enough,
on poster board is now a
oriflamme for
March for Our Lives.

Marchers lift  oriflammes where the cries of their hearts have been written with these words:
#Enough.


Today, the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas, rallying behind the use of one word, taught me not a grammar lesson, nor did they teach me a traditional word study lesson. They have taught me how much power there can be when one word is used by many voices to send a message.


The lesson these students taught the rest of us today came out of what they have learned in school.

They have learned, many by personal experience, that schools are no longer safe.
187,000 students have been exposed to gun violence in school since Columbine.

The students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School 
 have learned that if there is to be change, 
they must be change agents.

Today,
students across the nation came together under the rallying cry of 
ENOUGH
to teach the rest of us just how powerful a word can be when it is used to send a message of change.

ENOUGH
I could not get enough of watching the beautiful brave students from 
Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School
use the voices they found and developed after unspeakable horror visited them when 
they attended school on 
February 14, 2018.
On this date, a gunman took the lives of their classmates and teachers in a senseless act of violence.
On this date, school shootings and gun violence became personal to them.
On this day, they came together with one cry,
ENOUGH.

These students learned how to debate in debate class,
but soon they were using the skills they learned in debate class to argue for their cause:
there must be stricter gun control laws in our nation.
The arguments they made for their cause were solid, well researched, honest,  and factual.
No longer were these students just preparing for a debate tournament.
They were preparing to present their arguments on the world stage.
Their arguments were soon heard around the world.

These students had learned lessons in civics about democracy and how it is supposed to work.
Today, they showed us what democracy looks like.

They rallied.
They marched.
They demanded change.

They used their voices to show the world and this nation that our Freedoms are beautiful when we use those Freedoms to strengthen our Democracy. 

**************

Today, I have again been proud to be an American.

I sobbed into the dish towel I held in my hand as I alternately cleaned the kitchen and watched the
March for Our Lives
on television as it occurred in Washington D.C.

I sobbed for the lives lost in a place that should be safe: school.

I sobbed as I thought of the trauma and shock and grief  that the students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas experienced at school.

I sobbed as I thought of how this trauma marred their young lives and sobbed as I thought of how they will carry this trauma and will have to make sense of it for the rest of their lives.

I sobbed because I was overcome with emotion as I looked at their beautiful, brave faces.

I sobbed as I listened to inspirational speeches they delivered with an eloquence and articulation that we rarely, if ever, hear in our world of politics today.

I sobbed because I saw their respect for our Freedoms and for our Nation, and for each other.

I sobbed because though they were young, they were wise and wonderful, and they were united, and they were honest, and they were respectful, and they were real.

They were a breath of fresh air which we do not deserve to have because we, the Children of the Sixties, have become calloused, and cynical, and have forgotten what it is like to believe change can happen when people march for what is right.

I sobbed because I again believe that the people can and will rise up and speak against:
 social injustice, 
greed, and 
political corruption.

I sobbed because I saw our 
future,
our hope,
our children,
stand united 
giving a message
that says
#Enough is enough.


This bright, articulate, passionate, organized, and intelligent generation 
truly has given me hope for the future.

I join with them by sending this message:
#enough.
It is time for change.
The lives of our children continue to be at risk.

I hope I’m around for another couple of decades so I can see just what this next generation of citizens and voters will do with the lessons they learned in school.  
For now, on this day, I was so moved, and so proud to call them my fellow Americans as I watched how they were using their voices to inspire change across America.

#Enough
Not one more.
#Enough
Not one more student should die at school.
#Enough
Not one more teacher will have come between a gunman and the students in his or her classroom.


#Enough
No more school shootings.
#Enough
Stop the gun violence now.
#Enough
Protect kids not guns.
#Enough
Stop the NRA.

#Enough
Congress, you must act.

#Enough!
Congress, it is past time.  
You must immediately enact a comprehensive bill that will effectively address the gun violence issue in our country.  

#Enough
Our children have joined arms to 
March for Our Lives.
#Enough
Our children should never again have to run for their lives.
#Enough





14 comments:

  1. I was one of the thousands of people who marched in Bellingham in the rain today. I was so proud of our young people and wanted to do what I could to support them: join my cohorts on the street and carry a sign that said, March for Our Lives. Enough!

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  2. This uprising of students is reason for hope in a better future.

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  3. This is a wonderful post! thank you.
    I missed ost of the coverage from DC today, and am catching up on the national news this evening. We marched in Seattle with tens of thousands. I have hope.

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  4. our hope is students who find their voice and use it plus vote!

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  5. #Enough, indeed. From the other side of 'the pond' we send our prayers that this uprising of students will make the entrenched views of those in power, both in Washington and in all the individual States, be rocked to their foundations, and that the holders of those views will realise that they cannot ignore a whole generation that has been traumatised by so many horrors over the past years. There's really no excuse for the NRA's attitude - it's a travesty of what was intended in the Amendment they quote, as far as I can understand it (not being an American!!) Yesterday's march was amazing, seen ftom our perspective - and the speeches that we were shown on TV were so impressive. More power to them! And thank you for your post, Sally - I hope it has a very wide coverage (send it to DT himself - it might make him think a bit harder!) Blessings.

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  6. I have never been more hopeful or confident in our future. We have such a fine group of youngsters coming up who are not afraid of action.

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  7. Well said, Sally. It's always the young people who give me the most hope..:)

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  8. I think we have all had enough. And a child shall lead them. I'm so proud of these kids. They may save us all.

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  9. I marched. It's my last year of teaching--I retire June 1. I've done the twice yearly lock-down drills, I've watched the school shootings snowball over the years. No tears this time, I just got a chill. My hope is in the kids who are spearheading this movement all over the country.

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  10. Dear Sally, this posting is powerful. And inspiring. thank you so saying what so many of us are feeling but are unable to articulate as you have.

    I would add only one thing: we have had enough gun violence in homes as well. In drive-by shootings, in gang shootings, in the inner city, and in the suburbs where guns can sometimes be found my young children who know no better. For many children it is not only being in school that is terrorizing. It is also, walking down the street or gathering on a corner or living in an apartment on the first floor of the building where drive-by bullets can enter the windows and kill.

    It's this that for me made the speech by the 11-year-old African American child so powerful last Saturday. Peace.

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  11. This was such a wonderful, powerful post, Sally. I loved seeing the videos of the marches also. I'm so proud of our young people. I'm hoping that they're able to do what our generation wasn't able to accomplish because of the tight hold the NRA has on Congress.

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  12. Sally,
    From one retired English teacher to another, what a beautifully written post! I agree with your sentiments and admire your honesty in putting your thoughts out there. This is such a difficult time in our country but we're strong women and I still believe that, together, we can make a difference. I am so looking forward to following your blog. Happy Easter,
    Cheryl

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  13. Hey Sally, you should do a follow by email widget so it notifies when you post. I fat fingered the last comment, I meant to tag it R but I hit an F :)

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