What mighty times we are in!  With the horrible school shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas on February 14th, and after years of daily news reports of kids being shot and killed all over the country,  a student uprising for gun sanity and gun reform has taken off.  More power to you, brave students!  You will succeed, I know!

For so many years, as a pediatric trauma nurse, I patched up kids’ gunshot wounds- physical and psychological- in hospitals and clinics. I knew that the solution was a change  in policies and laws, and I worked- and continue to work- to change those policies that lead to kids being shot, whether it’s the flood of guns & assault rifles in our country, or a lack of funds for after school programs, or the closing of neighborhood schools, or poverty, or racism or any of the things that can lead to kids being shot.

Finally, I left the hospital so that I could spend more time encouraging kids to speak up for yourselves.  When you speak up for a better, safer world, it’s good for your health, and it’s good for our world, too.  Thanks for making things better by leading a charge against gun violence-   I am with you!