[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ admin_label=”section” _builder_version=”3.0.47″ custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false”][et_pb_row admin_label=”row” _builder_version=”3.0.48″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” custom_padding=”0|0px|0|0px|false|false”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”3.0.47″ parallax=”off” parallax_method=”on”][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text” _builder_version=”3.10.2″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat”]<\/p>\n
When I heard about the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman\u00a0Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, my first reaction\u00a0was not to have one. \u201c17 dead, 14 injured\u2026\u201d the car radio\u00a0droned, and I remember thinking, oh. Another one. And I\u00a0<\/span>promptly forgot it.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n I strive to be compassionate, but after years of hearing\u00a0about mass shootings every few months, the concept of a mass\u00a0shooting has lost its tragedy to me. It has become too regular\u00a0an occurrence for me to summon up the same intensity of grief\u00a0<\/span>and despair that it once did. So on Monday afternoon, during\u00a0an unseasonably warm fire drill, I forced myself to feel the\u00a0visceral fear of those students under attack in Florida. For one\u00a0<\/span>searing second, I tried to imagine what might occur if an active\u00a0shooter were on campus.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Would I dodge behind cars? Would I run fast enough to\u00a0reach the BAC? Would I scream as my classmates were cut\u00a0down, or would shock prevent me from registering it?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now and in the moment, I shudder. My heart pounds in\u00a0my ears. 17 dead in a high school of 3000 broke the Parkland\u00a0community; 17 dead in our entire school of just 1000 would\u00a0shatter us.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Something needs to change. But why hasn\u2019t it already?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Everyone who passed middle school social studies knows\u00a0that the Second Amendment guarantees the \u201cright to bear\u00a0arms,\u201d an important provision in the Revolutionary era for\u00a0establishing democracy in the face of tyranny and military <\/p>\n While other rights have served the same purposes throughout\u00a0time and thus become established as simple, non-negotiable\u00a0rights, the right to bear arms has nearly lost its original purpose <\/p>\n So the symbolic power of gun ownership drives gun\u00a0advocates and the National Rifle Association (NRA) to block\u00a0any legislation proposed to curb our near unfettered access\u00a0to military grade weapons. Instead, the national conversation <\/p>\n But would these solutions be effective? I doubt it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n In my nightmarish reimagination of our Monday afternoon\u00a0fire drill, who would be behind the trigger? I may not know any severely sociopathic, mentally volatile aspiring murderers, but I can think of many socially isolated, frustrated, angry\u00a0teenagers who think they deserve better. Committing every\u00a0adolescent who fits that profile to a mental institution and a\u00a0lifetime of mental health stigma would be a greater offense to <\/p>\n And who would defend us? Should Dean Ross bring a\u00a0weapon to Morning Meeting, just in case Should Dean\u00a0Cottingham carry her pistol from her office to English class\u00a0in the same bag as her laptop and glasses case? Would I feel\u00a0any more safe surrounded by teachers with guns who have no\u00a0experience or desire to wield them?<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The image is absurd. Surreal. And for me, the answer is\u00a0no\u2014no to armed teachers, and no to an \u201cimproved\u201d mental\u00a0health system that confuses adolescent rage and clinical psychosis and treats both the same.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thankfully, students are stepping up. The survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas are speaking out, arranging marches\u00a0and protests, and challenging their representatives to take a <\/p>\n And yet somehow, their suffering is not enough. In the\u00a0eyes of some prominent national leaders, our loss does not\u00a0make us qualified to speak\u2014it disqualifies us, because we are\u00a0too young. Too blinded by emotion. Our tiny, undeveloped <\/p>\n Somehow, it is the people furthest away from the situationwho are qualified to speak. It is those who are calm because\u00a0they are remote, who are unafraid because they are unaffected.\u00a0It is those who are \u201crational\u201d and \u201cexperienced\u201d because they\u00a0will never have to picture themselves hiding underneath desks\u00a0and behind cars from classmates wielding AR-15s.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n What would the victims of Parkland say to that?What\u00a0would the founding fathers think?\u00a0Maybe I don\u2019t know enough. I don\u2019t understand the intricacies of politics, the checks and balances, the hard-earned\u00a0compromises that got us to today. I definitely don\u2019t understand\u00a0the appeal of and attachment to assault weapons that so many\u00a0Americans feel so passionately.\u00a0But here\u2019s what I do know: I am 17. I go to a school\u2014like <\/p>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Rachel Chen ’18 When I heard about the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman\u00a0Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, my first reaction\u00a0was not to have one. \u201c17 dead, 14 injured\u2026\u201d the car radio\u00a0droned, and I remember thinking, oh. Another one. And I\u00a0promptly forgot it. I strive to be compassionate, but after years of hearing\u00a0about mass […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":1058,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"
\nabuse. Since those days of muskets and bayonets, the Second\u00a0Amendment has become a symbol of ultimate freedom\u2014perhaps even more so than freedom of religion, speech, or press.<\/p>\n
\nas guns become more developed and dangerous.\u00a0Less thanphysically defending the republic against oppressive government military abuses, it has now evolved into taking an ideological stand for freedom\u2014to the point where owning a gun is\u00a0a deliberate exercise of that freedom, and the gun itself is used\u00a0only for recreation.<\/p>\n
\nis redirected toward improving the mental health system to\u00a0prevent the severely mentally ill from obtaining weapons and\u00a0arming teachers to defend students.<\/p>\n
\nconstitutional freedom than any gun control restrictions could\u00a0be.<\/p>\n
\nstand. The sorrow that ought to paralyze them is driving them\u00a0to greater action, and I am grateful for their leadership in this\u00a0fight for our lives and futures.<\/p>\n
\nprefrontal cortexes are too easily manipulated and influenced\u00a0by the freedom-hating left agenda.<\/p>\n
\nSandy Hook, like Columbine, like Marjory Stoneman Douglas\u00a0High\u2014and I am afraid. I may not have all the answers, but I think I deserve a chance in finding them.<\/p>\nBy Rachel Chen '18<\/strong><\/h4>\r\n
\u201cThe big question is: should the media be promoting opinions by teenagers who are in an emtotional state and facing extreme peer pressure in some cases?\u201d-Bill O\u2019Reilly<\/strong><\/h5>\r\n
\u201cTheir sorrow can very easily be hijacked by left-wing groups who have an agenda,\u201d\u00a0\u2013 Former Rep. Jack Kingston<\/strong><\/h5>\r\nWhen I heard about the tragedy at Marjory Stoneman\u00a0Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, my first reaction\u00a0was not to have one. \u201c17 dead, 14 injured\u2026\u201d the car radio\u00a0droned, and I remember thinking, oh. Another one. And I\r\npromptly forgot it.\r\n\r\nI strive to be compassionate, but after years of hearing\u00a0about mass shootings every few months, the concept of a mass\u00a0shooting has lost its tragedy to me. It has become too regular\u00a0an occurrence for me to summon up the same intensity of grief\r\nand despair that it once did. So on Monday afternoon, during\u00a0an unseasonably warm fire drill, I forced myself to feel the\u00a0visceral fear of those students under attack in Florida. For one\r\nsearing second, I tried to imagine what might occur if an active\u00a0shooter were on campus.\r\n\r\nWould I dodge behind cars? Would I run fast enough to\u00a0reach the BAC? Would I scream as my classmates were cut\u00a0down, or would shock prevent me from registering it?\r\n\r\nNow and in the moment, I shudder. My heart pounds in\u00a0my ears. 17 dead in a high school of 3000 broke the Parkland\u00a0community; 17 dead in our entire school of just 1000 would\u00a0shatter us.\r\n\r\nSomething needs to change. But why hasn\u2019t it already?\r\n\r\nEveryone who passed middle school social studies knows\u00a0that the Second Amendment guarantees the \u201cright to bear\u00a0arms,\u201d an important provision in the Revolutionary era for\u00a0establishing democracy in the face of tyranny and military\r\nabuse. Since those days of muskets and bayonets, the Second\u00a0Amendment has become a symbol of ultimate freedom\u2014perhaps even more so than freedom of religion, speech, or press.\r\n\r\nWhile other rights have served the same purposes throughout\u00a0time and thus become established as simple, non-negotiable\u00a0rights, the right to bear arms has nearly lost its original purpose\r\nas guns become more developed and dangerous.\u00a0Less thanphysically defending the republic against oppressive government military abuses, it has now evolved into taking an ideological stand for freedom\u2014to the point where owning a gun is\u00a0a deliberate exercise of that freedom, and the gun itself is used\u00a0only for recreation.\r\n\r\nSo the symbolic power of gun ownership drives gun\u00a0advocates and the National Rifle Association (NRA) to block\u00a0any legislation proposed to curb our near unfettered access\u00a0to military grade weapons. Instead, the national conversation\r\nis redirected toward improving the mental health system to\u00a0prevent the severely mentally ill from obtaining weapons and\u00a0arming teachers to defend students.\r\n\r\nBut would these solutions be effective? I doubt it.\r\nIn my nightmarish reimagination of our Monday afternoon\u00a0fire drill, who would be behind the trigger? I may not know any severely sociopathic, mentally volatile aspiring murderers, but I can think of many socially isolated, frustrated, angry\u00a0teenagers who think they deserve better. Committing every\u00a0adolescent who fits that profile to a mental institution and a\u00a0lifetime of mental health stigma would be a greater offense to\r\nconstitutional freedom than any gun control restrictions could\u00a0be.\r\n\r\nAnd who would defend us? Should Dean Ross bring a\u00a0weapon to Morning Meeting, just in case Should Dean\u00a0Cottingham carry her pistol from her office to English class\u00a0in the same bag as her laptop and glasses case? Would I feel\u00a0any more safe surrounded by teachers with guns who have no\u00a0experience or desire to wield them?\r\n\r\nThe image is absurd. Surreal. And for me, the answer is\u00a0no\u2014no to armed teachers, and no to an \u201cimproved\u201d mental\u00a0health system that confuses adolescent rage and clinical psychosis and treats both the same.\r\n\r\nThankfully, students are stepping up. The survivors of Marjory Stoneman Douglas are speaking out, arranging marches\u00a0and protests, and challenging their representatives to take a\r\nstand. The sorrow that ought to paralyze them is driving them\u00a0to greater action, and I am grateful for their leadership in this\u00a0fight for our lives and futures.\r\n\r\nAnd yet somehow, their suffering is not enough. In the\u00a0eyes of some prominent national leaders, our loss does not\u00a0make us qualified to speak\u2014it disqualifies us, because we are\u00a0too young. Too blinded by emotion. Our tiny, undeveloped\r\nprefrontal cortexes are too easily manipulated and influenced\u00a0by the freedom-hating left agenda.\r\n\r\nSomehow, it is the people furthest away from the situationwho are qualified to speak. It is those who are calm because\u00a0they are remote, who are unafraid because they are unaffected.\u00a0It is those who are \u201crational\u201d and \u201cexperienced\u201d because they\u00a0will never have to picture themselves hiding underneath desks\u00a0and behind cars from classmates wielding AR-15s.\r\n\r\nWhat would the victims of Parkland say to that?What\u00a0would the founding fathers think?\u00a0Maybe I don\u2019t know enough. I don\u2019t understand the intricacies of politics, the checks and balances, the hard-earned\u00a0compromises that got us to today. I definitely don\u2019t understand\u00a0the appeal of and attachment to assault weapons that so many\u00a0Americans feel so passionately.\u00a0But here\u2019s what I do know: I am 17. I go to a school\u2014like\r\nSandy Hook, like Columbine, like Marjory Stoneman Douglas\u00a0High\u2014and I am afraid. I may not have all the answers, but I think I deserve a chance in finding them.","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[65,11],"tags":[14,13],"class_list":["post-1053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editorial","category-opinion","tag-editorial","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1053"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1059,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1053\/revisions\/1059"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1058"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1053"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1053"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.pingry.org\/record\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1053"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}