It was an ordinary Valentine’s Day four years ago when my class was interrupted by incoming news of an active shooter in a Florida high school. On Feb. 14, 2018, a 19-year-old opened fire on students and staff at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, but the impacts were far-reaching indeed.
More than 1,000 miles away, the breaking news coming in just before our class started – “17 Dead in School Shooting” – was unavoidable. As a class, we pivoted to the current event and shared stories, and I did my best to make a teachable moment out of the horror.
I shared with students about my experiences with gun violence. In 2017, I watched a livestream as a gunman opened fire onto a Las Vegas concert crowd. Friends at the concert were in harm’s way, two of the nicest people I know were hit and luckily survived. With the sometimes horrifying miracles of modern technology, I was watching it in real time.
When I shared, they did as well and collectively it was replete: we had been on hitlists; we had hidden behind furniture and in closets during shooting events; we had known people shot and killed.
The commonality of this persistent epidemic of preventable violence is why March for our Lives featured events in 400 U.S. cities on June 11.