Letter to the Editor: What Happened to Us?

It is a puzzlement, what we expect from our young people. We want them to learn responsibility, yet we give them so little free rein. We want them to think for themselves, as long as they don’t stray too far from our own opinions. We want them to be respectful of their elders, yet what kinds of examples do we give them? We send them to school, a place where their educators and caregivers are themselves disrespected – not given a good wage, burdened with a mountain of responsibilities, faulted with anything we as parents may find remiss – and a place where they are no longer safe.

When we hear that there has been yet another school shooting, we say, “Enough!” But what do we do? We complain, we blame, we feel sorry, we may even call our Congressperson. Then, we continue as we have. It has become a sad pattern. No wonder that the teens at Parkland took a stand against the status quo. It is so full of holes, you’d think there was a shooting – and there was. These teens lost friends and revered teachers because we are too lily-livered to say to our fellow men:  You shall not have military-style automatic weapons. We shall no longer allow them and their ilk because too many people – not terrorists, not Nazis, not gangsters – but too many of our countrymen, women and children are dying!

It is a very sad state of affairs when we leave it up to the ones we should be protecting be the ones who stand on the front line.

Reinelde Lea

Fish Creek, Wis.