A few weeks ago, my wife asked me if I would like to go to the “March For Life” rally. “Okay” was my reply, hoping she’d forget.
Saturday morning, bright and early, she woke me up, “get ready.”
“Where are we going,” I replied?
“To the March For Life rally.
Damn, she didn’t forget. “Can I at least get a cup of coffee”?
“No we can’t miss the bus.”
“Bus? Where are we going?”
“To Hartford,, for the March for Life rally.”
Ughh I thought. “Can’t I go back to sleep?”
“No!”
“Yes, dear”, I replied.
We rode over to Ridgefield High School for the bus ride to Hartford and un-expectantly met with friends already there. We collected signs if we needed them and orange hats to show solidarity. In a few minutes, the yellow school bus arrived and that brought back bad memories of grade school. When we arrived at the capital I said myself, “Wow this is a real rally” and not unlike our marches against the war in Vietnam.
Other yellow school buses were being directed to parking areas by our capital State police. People of all ages, from infants to Great Grandmothers marched in solidarity to our capital building. Chants of, “Enough is Enough” and “Stop Gun Violence” were head over and over util the gathering reached to the steps of our impressive capital building.
The March For Life, organized by teenagers, marks a true turning point in the fight for common sense gun control legislation. On this national day of protest kids and their families from Enfield, Guilford, Roxbury and Ridgefield marched and defied the NRA and its hold on Congress. The eleven thousand marchers included a contingent from Newtown.
All were expressing their anger at Congress’ failure to enact tougher gun restrictions in spite of thousands and thousands gun related deaths per year.
We heard from our Senator Murphy and Senator Blumenthal. One anecdotal story from Sen. Murphy affected me greatly. The Senator recounted a conversation he had with his young child who had taken part in a shooting drill at school. The children were stuffed into the bathroom and warned to keep quiet. The child told the Senator “I didn’t like it, Daddy.”
Never underestimate teenagers. These Parkland students have started a movement. An estimated crowd of 200,000 people were marching in Washington while 11,000 were demonstrating in support of them in Hartford and thousands of others in towns and cities all over the country. We can’t fail our young people. We have to continue to march for their lives.
On the bus back to Ridgefield, I admitted to my wife, that I was glad I went, even though I didn’t get my morning coffee. It was truly a great day for our democracy.