There is a dispute within the religious community about the meaning of Isaiah 11:6. Around the edges, for people like me who are more fearful of disappointing a late great-grandmother than I am doctrine, I like the layman’s interpretation. I wrote that circumlocutive intro as a tribute to the bravery of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students. Unlike access seeking professional journalist, a group of wide-eyed teenagers has not been made so cynical that they still believe change is possible. Instead of being a part of a continuum to lead their fellow lambs to the slaughter, they have decided to lead their own flocks to the steps of power in Washington, DC in March.
From the contrarian look of Emma González to the buttoned-down conservative look of the son [David Hogg] of a former FBI agent and Cameron Kasky, who stunned Marco Rubio into silence, their differences are overcome by the mutual targets on their backs. The 18 and 17-year-olds, respectively, have stared into red camera lights, stood before logo festooned news microphones, and stood within feet of prominent adults, and called them out for their money-driven inaction. Dana Loesch, the spokesperson for the NRA, sat stoned-faced when Ms. González offered to keep Loesch’s children safe when she would not.
The candid confrontations by a cadre of teen superheroes exposed the politicians for what they really are calculating adults. Instead of showing the kids what they needed, a tear or the faint beginnings of a virtual hug, they were recoiled by the quizzical looks of political reflection. In the most famous of the skirmishes, Loesch trotted out the Republican diversion tactics, filibustering, mental health and how much she was concerned for the sanctity of the 2nd Amendment. What the kids needed to hear was, ‘I will work with you to find ways to stop, easily attainable weapons of war, from getting into the hands of murderers.’ Kids have a way of cutting through the clutter of needless sophistication and calling a spade a rifle.
We are in desperate need of that simplicity when it comes to the gun debate. Having gun-splainers debate what constitutes a semi-automatic weapon has little meaning to grieving parents. Gun enthusiast claim without a perfect law nothing should be attempted. I wish they would make that a blanket edict, there is a bank around the corner from me that is a pushover. Of course, I am only kidding, but why have any laws if perfection is the gauge by which we judge them? A car alarm, a home alarm even a combination lock on a kid’s school locker is only meant as a deterrent. The cleaver NRA distraction of making people who want to see sensible gun restrictions prove infallibility is as ridiculous as it is deadly.
So, with admitted, “white lies” coming from the mouth of a White House official and vanishing morality keeping America with one foot on a banana peel, maybe Emma, David, Cameron and the other …little children shall lead us.
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