An Important Day for America: Today, I Will Be With Teachers, Students and Families in Shelton

Today, at noon, I will be in the company of many in Shelton, Connecticut to show support for the youth movement occurring across the United States in protest for safer schools, better supports for youth communities, and ways to counter the violence that has been caused far too often in our nation by the hands of individuals with guns.

My dad was a hunter. He had a respect for guns and a purposeful use for them - to hunt. He fed his family and I recognize the joy he had every October when he took time from work and hunted the woods near his childhood.

I opted in my adult life not to be a hunter, but I have respect for those who take responsibility with their weapons, and who recognize the danger they bring to our society. They understand that violence, as a result of a gun epidemic, needs the attention. It's not the weapons - it's the users behind them. They shouldn't have access to as much as they do. Their needs to be more investments in helping all of us to heal.

I could post the numbers and statistics, but that is not my purpose. The facts are known, played over and over again, and they continue to set alarms for the world about what has become the United States. The data is staggering. Justifying the insanity is inane.

I also know that guns are a tool. The bigger, more substantial conversations need to be held about what's beneath the surface: mental illness, anger, fear, oppression and hatred that is culturally and historically created. Guns are a problem, but so are the individuals that misuse them to harm others in sick, demented ways - events that are far too common in our country.

I sat thinking about the March while doing as I do in March Madness, watching the Syracuse Orange and NCAA tournaments. Sitting in my house grading, too, I felt extremely small. CNN ran a documentary on the Stoneman Douglas shootings and also interviewed families that had their lives changed forever because of Sandy Hook. A father said, "The kids of Stoneman Douglas are not afraid of the adults that have allowed gun violence to get out of control. Too many of these adults have not spoken up enough. These kids are speaking. They are walking to say enough is enough."

Enough is enough.

It's sad to know that such walks have to occur to unite everyday people who do not want this to be our nation. I am hoping to find hope in the presence of others who are uniting to take action.

I am thinking of the families who have lost children at the hands of such violence. I'm not sure how they find the strength to go on, but they do. In the case of many, they redirected their lives to fight the vicious, overpowering anarchy of a gun-crazed society. Regulations and restrictions are needed. Our forefathers never imagined the carnage of today.

It's wrong.

An investment of care is needed. I am marching because I care. I am marching because I prefer a society based on empathy and love.