Our country, our planet, is being tested in so many ways and now we need to decide: How do we fit into this picture. Will we take a stand for what we believe is right or will we just sit back and watch things happen?
Martin Gould of Aventura, Fla. posted the following article on Facebook after the devastating shooting at the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. February 14, 2018.
“If you’ve been wondering why so many students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School have become such effective political activists, so quickly, it’s probably because they got it directly from their school’s namesake.
“I’d like to tell you a little bit about this remarkable woman who made political activism her calling right up until the day she died at the age of 108. Her father owned the Miami Herald and she became a reporter there, way back in 1912. She fought for women’s suffrage, joined the Red Cross to take care of wounded soldiers in World War I, and refugees in Paris after the Great War ended.
“But her greatest works came much later. In 1947, she wrote the groundbreaking book, “River of Grass,” the story of the Florida Everglades. In it she explained how the Everglades functioned and its vital importance to our entire ecological system. She was the primary activist who rose up to protect the Everglades from destruction. She fought Big Sugar on dumping toxic waste water into the Everglades. She fought the Army Corps of Engineers to block the straightening of the Kissimmee River, explaining how the wandering, winding river filtered water on its journey from Central Florida to the Everglades. The “ditch,” as she called it, eliminated that filtering system and turned the Everglades into a toilet of sorts.
“She fought the South Florida Water Management District when they allowed water levels in the Everglades to rise dangerously high, killing off the native deer population and other species of wildlife. She was a fighter and an activist for protecting things valuable to our planet and its inhabitants.
“I interviewed her on her 90th birthday on the front porch of her house. She was animated, cantankerous, courtly, insightful and inquisitive. She recalled everything she had done. I had read her book because, at that time, I was doing a number of news stories about the Everglades; the very same issues she was still fighting to fix.
“She would be proud of the students who are now standing up to fight for a cause in which they deeply believe. She would have been standing right with them, demanding action and action now. She would have carried those kids on her back to (Floriday capital) Tallahassee and Washington, D.C. to make sure those in power use that power for the greater good. It was in her own DNA, now transferred to these courageous students,” Gould wrote.
• Notable comments:
How to get a gun in Japan:
To get a gun in Japan, you first have to attend an all-day class and pass a written test, which are held only once per month.
You must take and pass a shooting range test class.
Then, go to a hospital for a mental test and drug test (Japan is unusual in that potential gun owners must affirmatively prove their mental fitness), which you’ll file with the police.
Finally, pass a rigorous background check for any criminal record or extremist groups, and you will be the proud new owner of your shotgun or air rifle.
Just don’t forget to provide police with documentation on the specific location of the gun in your home, as well as the ammo, both of which must be locked and stored separately.
And remember to have the police inspect the gun once per year and to re-take the class and exam every three years.
Japan had 11 gun deaths in 2008, the U.S. had 12,000.
Jeremy Quinn/ Facebook 10-4-2017
Remember: Gun control doesn’t work…except in Canada, Japan, England, Spain, Australia, Sweden, Iceland, Italy, Israel, Denmark, and Germany.
Cliff Schector / Facebook 2-17, 2018
I want to live in a country that loves its children more than its guns.
Lynn Hopkins / Facebook 2-14-2018