“The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.” ~ Coelho
On Saturday, March 24th, the March for our Lives saw literally millions take to the streets, not only in the USA, but also in countries around the world.
Many have opinions that gun control in the USA needs to be radically changed. I am one of them, and I’ve written about it in “Unthinkable, unforeseeable leadership“.
In that piece, I wrote:
“Leadership as we know it will not serve us in the times we now live in. Times of rapidly accelerating change and disruption, as well as unthinkable events. Strategic planning and old school “command and control” “expert” leadership simply don’t and won’t work anymore. Is it really that unthinkable that the movement that will finally smash the intractability of US politics will be started by our children, by teens, by college students ?”
In that article, I posted the video of Emma Gonzalez speaking the day after the Parkland massacre, followed by the words: “Emma is a hero and a leader. Goosebumps watching this.”
Yes, a march is only the start. We are being led by our youth and they MUST register and they MUST vote (something that typically does not happen among the younger demographic after any protest).
Yes, I don’t feel this movement is going far enough, and I don’t believe they yet see the power of change this can unleash. Gun control must go far further than minimal changes, we must see outright bans of almost all weapons from civilians. That is still not all we will see. This is a movement that may see an outright overhaul of the US system of government, which has been fundamentally broken for decades.
Yes, a speech is only a speech, yet :
“Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come.” ~ Victor Hugo
As the phrase says, “Cometh the hour, cometh the man.”, or in this case, cometh the resolute, committed, brave teenage woman, Emma Gonzalez. She is our Mockingjay, our Tris, our Harry Potter. She and her peers were raised with books and movies showing youth overcoming dystopian evil. These stories were their guidebooks and training manuals.
On March 24th, 2018, Emma Gonzalez delivered a speech of stunning power. Savage in its simplicity, radically uncomfortable, she is a leader for the times we live in. As Barack Obama said after Parkland: “We’ve been waiting for you. And we’ve got your backs.”
Emma, the world will be changed by your example.
Watch the full speech, sense your experience, feel it: