Is this next Greatest Generation?

To the editor:

We needed it badly. Some sign that our beleaguered democracy was still reparable.

And then it came.

The National School Walkout had been on my calendar since it was announced in the wake of the Parkland massacre. As it drew closer, there was a growing feeling that it would be something meaningful. When it arrived, it was on the heels of an improbable congressional election victory in deep red Pennsylvania.

As I climbed the embankment of Harris Field last Wednesday — across the street from my alma mater, Bronx High School of Science — a respectful distance away from my son, his classmates and their friends from the High School of American Studies — I was filled with appreciation, excitement and a renewed certainty that the national nightmare we are now enduring will soon become a footnote (albeit, a painful one) in our proud and imperfect history.

OK, so it’s undoubtedly premature to call them the next “Greatest Generation.” After all, they haven’t defeated the most insidious threat to freedom of the century … yet. They haven’t risen to adulthood from the deepest economic crisis of the century … yet. 

Their intangible achievements have been modest … so far.

But Generation Never Again (herein referred to as “they,” not “it”) has shocked us with their fervor, their confidence, and the clarity of their message. B.P. (before Parkland) they had been castigated — by those who have permanently lost any moral right to lecture them — for being devoid of intellect and civic responsibility. Up until now, their attention span has been seemingly congruous to a Snapchat post.

But Parkland awoke this sleeping giant.

In one short, but agonizing, month, they have inspired multinational companies to change longstanding policies, forced legislators nationwide to re-evaluate their positions. And most importantly, given many Americans a renewed sense of hope.

Rarely in American history do we debate such a morally unambiguous issue. Americans of good conscience can debate the complexities of tax policy and health care reform. But when it comes to guns, you are either on the wrong side of history, or the right side.

Figuratively, you are either standing behind the white supremacist policemen aiming water cannons at civil rights marchers in the 1960s, or you are standing with the suffragettes in the 1920s.

The adjective “common sense” that precedes gun control — even for what is now a majority of Republicans — seems redundant. Yet, the NRA, which recently has been likened to a terrorist organization, has clung to even the most outrageous of its policy positions, and succeeded in recruiting their largely Republican “lawmaking” enablers to follow it headlong down a path that will inevitably cross with this motivated group of youngsters.

These kids have taken adult America to school. They will hold us deservedly accountable for the mess we have left them. They will be unforgiving to those that stand in their way. They will set an example of activism, citizenship and patriotism for their younger brothers and sisters.

They will vote. And most importantly, they will make America great again.

Cliff Stanton