Meet Cameron Kasky
Remember the moment in The Lord of the Rings, where Gandalf lays on Frodo some vintage Gandalf-ian wisdom? If you are a J.R.R. Tolkien fan, you are probably following up with, "Which time! There are so many!" I'm talking about the time where the Fellowship of the Ring has paused in their journey deep into the mines of Moria. There Frodo lamented the dark times they lived in, saying, "I wish it need not have happened in my time." To which Gandalf replies...
"So do I...and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us."
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (New Line Cinema, 2001)
It can be shocking how an unexpected event can completely transform one's character and purpose in life. I have no idea what life was like for Cameron Kasky, a junior at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, before 2:21pm on February 14, 2018. I'm pretty sure that nowhere near his current plans at the time was to in one week become a national spokesman for gun regulation, directly challenging the elite political leaders of his day along with one of the most longstanding and powerful lobbying organization in America, the two billion dollar gun industry's National Rifle Association. But that is precisely what has happened. Inspired by the time that was stolen from seventeen human beings by a mentally and emotionally deranged young man and a society that has thus far lacked the backbone to make the kinds of changes that could have saved these and other victims of gun violence in the United States, Cameron has chosen to use the time given to him to stand up with his other surviving classmates and challenge politicians and the power brokers of violence who pull their strings.
We close by observing Cameron's amazing moment with once Presidential candidate and now sitting U.S. Senator, Marco Rubio...