The phone conversation in the back seat went something like this.  “Yes, I’m going with my parents right now.  They’re protest virgins.”,  followed by much laughter from all of us.  He was right of course.  I had never been to a protest march as this particular event had been labeled.  I have always tried my best to vote whenever I can and in the last decade or so have been more involved in advocacy efforts, speaking to state and national representatives about the importance of music education in the lives of all children.  But to be honest, there has never been a protest that I felt strongly enough about to participate.

So, why this one?  Well, as the students today spoke of so eloquently, enough is enough.  The straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I actually raised my voice in anger to a class of first graders a few weeks ago because they giggled throughout a code red drill, not understanding fully that this was a drill that could mean life or death should it actually happen. Six year olds who just thought it was fun to hide in the dark.  I hated the idea that we even had to do the drill and hated my reaction to the students out of fear for them on my part.  I hated that I had to talk to my student teacher, just beginning her teaching career, about steps to take to hopefully keep her students safe, despite the fact that in a real life scenario there may be nothing she can actually do.  As several of the students said today during the protest, this is not normal.

Those who joined in the protest today obviously came with many different points of view, some of which I agreed with and others I did not.  I had a couple of people on social media who asked what the protest was about, and that was a simple yet complex question.  The simple answer – children dying in school shootings needs to stop.  Period.  Complexity comes from the many different perceptions as to why this is happening in the first place, and therefore how things need to change to stop the killing.

Now, I know that there are a lot of armchair “quarterbacks” who are labeling everyone who organized and/or participated in the protests.  They have decided everyone is anti-second amendment, anti-NRA, anti-Republican, etc.  And I have no doubt, based on the signs I saw, that there were people in the march with their own agendas, biases, and personal experiences.  So I am only speaking for myself personally, when I share that I marched in solidarity with the students on those capitol steps who spoke so eloquently about being the generation who have grown up with school shootings, who live in fear that they may be next and that they are tired of the so called “adults” who can’t let go of their personal or funded agendas long enough to see that the death of any child in this way is not acceptable on any level.  I am not protesting anything, I am BEGGING other adults to come together, set aside those personal differences and come up with a solution that will save children.

All I know in my heart is that hardening schools is not the answer.  Giving teachers guns is not the answer.  School should be the place where all children feel and are safe and protected. Seeing guards with guns, walking through metal detectors, having cameras in every hallway and knowing some of their teachers might have a gun in the classroom would be constant reminders to children which in turn would distract them from the things they should be doing at school – thinking, exploring, and learning.

Do I have the answers?  No.  I learned a long time ago that issues like this are multi-faceted and that it will take many people from many points of view to come to consensus as to how we need to stop this.  It is not just guns, it is not just mental illness, it is not just the need for new legislation, it is not just bullying, it is not just hardening our schools.  It is the culture we have created in this country that needs to change.  It is a culture that says everything else is more important than addressing violence in the lives of children with more than lip service. We need to come together with a creative solution with one thing in mind and not get distracted by our own agendas.  No more children dying.  Enough is enough.

My son who called us protest virgins today also told us he was proud of us several times.  It’s time for all adults to get over ourselves and do this one essential thing to make all of our children proud and ultimately, safe.