A Change is Gonna Come

I have never felt so old.

Not me. But how I feel right now.

I mean, I have felt older than 10 years ago. I pay my bills-that makes me feel old. I can no longer have fried food without heartburn-that makes me feel old. Sleeping in for me is getting up at 9 am(it used to be getting up at 2 pm)-that makes me feel old. I get home from a night out at 11pm instead of leaving the house only at midnight-that makes me feel old.

But, I have never felt older than I do now, listening to Emma Gonzalez, David Hogg and their friends change the world.

This isn’t the first mass shooting in a high school. I have to admit(and I am ashamed to admit) I have not only gotten used to it. When I see it, I tweet maybe one tweet or one Facebook status and I move on with my life. The kids that go through it, they don’t have a face in my mind. My tweet or Facebook status isn’t about them really, it is almost always about Trump and how horrible he is.

The kids at Stoneman Douglas gave me faces. They are putting life and meaning into a cause that is so important, it is insane that it is still an issue. They are standing up. They are shouting out. They are not letting this die with their classmates and teachers.

And they are making me feel really old.

Because I am not the future. I am not the change that needs to happen. I am too old. My vote in coming elections is not going to change anything. Their vote is. Their voice is. And they are using it wisely.

I am amazed at them. I am amazed that adults are telling them to sit down and be quiet and that just makes them stand taller. I am amazed at all the companies who have dropped NRA because of those meddling kids. I am in awe of them.

And I am hopeful. For the first time in my short 33 years of life, I really see the truth behind the saying that the children are our future.

All we can do is have their back, like adults are supposed to do.

Tell them often, don’t let them forget. We have your backs!