Parkland Students in Florida - Grieving and Doing Something for The Lose of 17 Innocent Lives

Tired of being bombarded by all the violence, negative and horrible news stories everyday from the media,  I started writing this blog and was determined to have my blog entries focusing on the happy, beautiful and positive things in life. It is my hope that my blog is a happy place where people can escape from the sad stories being reported on a daily basis.

However, the same day we landed in Florida, a horrendous tragedy took place at Stoneman Douglas High School, Parkland, Florida, where a former student went on a shooting rampage killing seventeen innocent people before captured by police.

Parkland has a population of 31,000 people, a part of the Miami Metropolitan. It is about a four hour drive from where we are, too close for me not to  write  anything about it.



Everywhere we went for the past few days in the Port Richey area, we saw American flags at half mast:  flags outside business buildings such as car dealership, banks, drive through fast food and on the beach.










As a Canadian educator, I am extremely sad to hear about any school shootings. There are so many mass shootings happen in the U.S. that some don't even get reported at all on the news.

Many Americans can not understand how little the politicians in U.S. have been doing to protect their citizens and young from gun violence.    Under President Obama's watch, he tried hard to bring in some kind of gun control legislation but was consistently opposed by his opposition party during his eight years in office. As a result, absolutely nothing has been done by the U.S. politicians despite the numerous mass shootings in schools and other public places.

Last evening, I was deeply touched watching the students from Stoneman Douglas High School speaking out and asking their elected officials questions at  the CNN Town Hall meeting. The students are turning their grief and calling for a positive change. A movement seems to be happening and a protest is being organized on  March 24.










It is my sincere hope that this movement by the young people at Stoneman Douglas High School will gain momentum and be able to sustain just like the #Me Too movement which started a  social change in America.

I also hope that the America flag will never be lowered again for the death of innocent people caused by any future senseless shooting.

R.T.
(Visiting from Canada)
Port Richey
Florida, USA