Letters to the Editor: Letter to the Editor: A plea for school leaders to advocate for gun control
I park a block up the street from my child’s school each morning, soaking in that five-minute walk. We jump over the cracks in the sidewalk, get on all fours and watch the ants marching along the grass and make plans for our next adventure. When we get to campus I kiss his face and remind him to be kind and courageous.
I’m grateful for that tiny slice of the day. To be able to say goodbye with full hearts and hopeful spirits, because every morning I send him to school I know that it could be the last time.
I wonder if the parents from the 13 school shootings this year and the 24 school shootings last year thought about that? That when they packed that morning’s lunch and waved goodbye, that it might be the last time. Because that day, someone with a gun would injure or kill someone on their child’s campus.
I passionately believe we should help our kids develop the mental and emotional strength to thrive in the face of adversity and the courage and conviction to stand up against it so that they relate to adversity not as an obstacle but as a call to action.
Why should we expect anything less from the leaders in our schools? Now is the time for them to speak without fear of reprimand and to wholeheartedly express their concerns and commitments to making a better world for their students, our children. It’s time for the families and community to know that they are a part of a school and a district that advocates for the basic human right of life, despite the way it’s been twisted into a divisive political issue.
The fact is, our children have a more valuable role in the world than being pawns in the bureaucratic game of political correctness.
We’re listening.
Alexandra DiRuscio
Glendale