LIFE, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

This morning I was driving into work talking on the phone with a friend. We were actually discussing the weather because of the big snow storm headed our way. I admitted my lack of awareness as to how much snow she would be getting and I said to her, “I have no idea what your weather is. I don't have much of a clue as to what is going on outside of my little world. I live in a box and I like it that way. I’m comfortable in by box. It's cozy and safe in here.”

I said this as a joke. It was a vague generalization about my feelings towards politics and media these days. I personally try to stay away from most news because it all causes my blood to boil. I was individualizing myself and my problems from the reality of the world in which we all live. I followed it up with, “You know, just like Trump wants to put America First? I choose to put me and my family first.”

Within 30 minutes, I was getting notifications about a school shooting in my home town of Great Mills, MD.

Suddenly my little box felt violated. Somehow, while I was living within the confines of my own self defined safety net, the threat found a way to creep in.

I have friends and family who work at that school. My children have friends and cousins who attend that school. Quickly, my children and I started to reach out to anyone and everyone we could think of who might have been within range of a lone, CHILD shooter in halls that, if we hadn’t moved, my children would also be walking.

Schools are not a place for guns.

I admit that this is a topic that is easy to shy away from. None of us want to accept that this is a problem. We all want to believe that the school shootings are these isolated events that happen "in someone else's town."

It's time we wake up.

My town is your town.

It's true that the "active shooter" in Great Mills High School was much different than the AR-15 semi automatic rifle wielding shooter at Stoneman Douglas High School on February 14th. It appears that the issue at GMHS was a domestic dispute with very intentional victims, but the sense of chaos and insecurity is the same. The fear felt by the people inside the school - and the anxiety felt by friends and family watching and waiting from the outside - is the same.

I didn't know if this was a lone gunman. I didn't know if it was an adult or a child. I didn't know what kind of weapon he was carrying or how many possible victims there were. I was relying on the local news to provide me any snippet of a detail. I was stalking Snapchat and Instagram to show me small windows of what was going on while I awaited check-ins from people I know.

My town is your town.

This conversation needs to start happening. This is NOT a place for politicians. This is not a time for government bureaucracy.

This is a time for families - parents and children, schools - teachers, students, and administrators. It is time for communities to come together and tell our government what we will and will not accept.

Guns do not belong in schools.

I don't have many answers to how we can make this happen but I do have a lot of questions. And I am going to start asking them now. As uncomfortable as it makes me, I intend to stand up and ask the hard questions.

How are we going to protect our kids?
Who are we going to hold responsible for protecting them?
What matters more? Your gun collection or your child's life?
When is enough actually enough?
Where can we feel safe, if not in our own schools?
Why are assault weapons necessary for the every day man when they were created for soldiers - for mass casualty?

Join me on Saturday at the March for Our Lives. Bring your signs. Bring your voice. Bring your questions. Let's come together as a community to start the conversation. Let's ask the questions that will challenge our neighbors, make our friends uncomfortable, and hopefully change our current situation.

We are all in this together whether we agree or not. We should not be allowing our broken government to make these decisions alone. They will continue to do nothing.

This is so much more than just my comfy little box. This is our country. This is our home. This is our schools, our churches, our movie theaters. This is our time - to make a difference.