So, The March for Our Lives happened this past weekend and is being hailed as one of the largest student protests since Vietnam:

Young people were hailed as “brave” for cussing out the NRA and kids’ parents. Stoneman Douglas High School Senior, Emma Gonzalez took the stage in D.C.:

“No one understood the extent of what had happened. No one could believe that there wer bodies in that building waiting to be identified for over a day. No one knew that the people who were missing had stopped breathing long before any of us had even known that a code red had been called. No one could comprehend the devastating aftermath, or how far this would reach, or where this would go.
For those who still can’t comprehend, because they refuse to, I’ll tell you where it went. Six feet into the ground, six feet deep.”-Emma Gonzalez.

She remained silent for six minutes and 20 seconds. Then, there were the signs. Ridiculous signs. The New England Patriots donated their jet to the cause. The March garnered donations from Taylor Swift, George Clooney, Oprah Winfrey and Steven Spielberg to name a few and was backed by The Action Network-a “progressive organizing platform“. And yes, they “only work with progressives”.

The smoke has cleared, the poster boards have gone into the recycling bin and here we are again. Back to reality. Here’s some harsh reality for these little darlings and their parents. Ready for this?

In the years 2016-2017, information compiled by radio show personality Michael Medved and producer Greg Tomlin shows, at K-12 schools in America, of the 51 million students enrolled, there were seven children killed. Seventeen were killed at Stoneman Douglas. Meanwhile, in our nation, there are an average of over 3,470 suicide attempts by young people grades 9-12. According to the CDC, suicide is the SECOND leading cause of death for ages 10-24. and the SECOND leading cause of death for college-age youth and ages 12-18. There are 25 attempted suicides to one completed suicide among teenagers. In November 2017, 11 year-old Toni Rivers of South Carolina shot and killed herself after being bullied at school despite her mother’s attempt to inform the school months before. The school did nothing. In May 2017, Pediatric Academic Societies Meeting in San Francisco found that the number of children and adolescents admitted to children’s hospitals for thoughts of suicide or self-harm more than doubled during the last decade. Smartphones. Social media. Sleep deprivation and an overwhelming desire to belong and not be left out coupled with passive-aggressive remarks from “friends” and veiled threats on texts, Instagram, Snap-Chat, Musical.ly and whatever the hot social media app of the moment is.

And these kids are worried about guns. Guns only killed some of these children. Some overdosed on pills. Some jumped off overpasses. Some hung themselves. Some drove their cars into a ditch. Some slit their wrists. These kids will never play basketball again. These kids will never go to college. These kids will never get in trouble in Homeroom or play jokes on their buddies. These kids will never go to prom, homecoming, graduation. Guns did not kill them. Words from their peers did. Actions of their peers (or lack of action in some cases) did. Some came from good homes and some of these kids came from troubled homes. It did not matter. They were hurting and in turn, they hurt themselves or decided to hurt others because some their peers and other adults in their lives did not lift a finger to help them. They were silent. But yeah, David Hogg. Go ahead and flip-off and cuss out the NRA, tough guy!

So, we’ve got teen suicide. Now, let’s throw something else into this lethal cocktail. In 2014,the US departments of Education and Justice issued a federal directive and warned public school districts receiving federal funding that they could face investigation and funding cuts if they fail to reduce statistical “disparities” in discipline by race. Yep. Hug-a-thug and be careful who you discipline because you do not want to be perceived as profiling a student. After all, you may lose your funding. In the meantime, school “bullies” keep their rap sheets going. Expulsions are now short suspensions only for said offender to return after a few days and harass the same kid(s). Suspensions are not effective. Discipline in our schools is laughable. School administrators tiptoe around these kids in fear of their superintendent coming down on them or the state and federal governments cutting funding. They pussyfoot around these kids because they are also afraid of their parents and being accused of racism.

So the equation goes something like this: bullies getting away with what would have been unthinkable years ago because of fear from a government directive plus kids who truly think there is no hope and as a result of these toxic thoughts, commit suicide or shoot up a school full of kids they have grown to hate. The sum of all of this? The so-called “popular kids” in the same age group protesting guns and using foul language in the process, walking out of class and marching in “solidarity”. They are marching for their lives. This is their moment in the sun. They are the revolutionaries. They will return to school today and all will be the same as it ever was. Some of their peers will still remain in darkness and wanting to be seen, heard, even loved. But they are worried about their safety. Hash-tagging on Twitter all the way because a big march against guns solves IT ALL, doesn’t it, kids? Being on the sidelines and trying to be a voice for those who don’t feel have a voice does not impact lives at all. Nope. No one is hearing them. Want to see all of your classmates make it to graduation? Start talking to them. Get to know them. Stop being self-serving and mean. Come together as a group and stand up and I mean really STAND UP for them in the face of a bully. Get your peers help if you think they need it. You really want to “March for Your Lives?” Instead of being good little progressives and following the left’s anti-gun script, try a little less screaming about guns and laws you know nothing about and try exercising a little more humility, a little more respect to your elders and try encouraging kindness and compassion to your peers.

You really want #NeverAgain? Change the course by your every day actions. But these kids (and some adults for that matter) still can’t comprehend, because they refuse to.