On the EDge: Time for millennials to clean up our mess

February 26, 2018 Utah Channel 3

OPINION – There’s a growing chasm between the aging baby boomers and millennials.

The grumpy, curmudgeonly geezers are reviling the millennials – those in the 18-35 age group. There’s a natural jealousy, of course, of their energy and youthfulness. There are also some stark political and cultural chasms widening that divide.

This generational gap is really nothing new.

We went through it during the ‘60s.

As baby boomers, we emerged as the largest voting bloc in America.

And, quite frankly, we botched it.

We caved, giving in to the greed and ignorance that we criticized our elders for – anybody remember the “Don’t trust anybody over 30” mantra?

We were going to change the world.

Only we didn’t.

We set out to chase racism from the landscape.

All we did was drive it further underground where it still festers despite the best of efforts.

We were going to cleanse the planet.

Instead, we have contributed mightily to the decline of our one and only Earth through our development of a disposable society that ranges from cars and computers and television sets to other goods that simply will not recycle.

We were going to fix a corrupt and evil government system that culminated in the disgrace of Richard “I Am Not a Crook” Nixon.

Instead, we have a White House, Congress and state legislatures bought and firmly in the control of special interests groups like Big Pharma, Big Oil and, of course, the National Rifle Association.

The millennials, as evidenced by the articulate students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida where 17 lives were snuffed out by a punk with an assault rifle, are taking aim at the NRA and the politicians it controls.

God bless them.

I have grandchildren in the school system.

I want them safe, damn it!

I have friends with children and grandchildren in school systems across the nation.

I want them safe, too.

I don’t want to hear about school shootings as a societal ill or bad parenting or any of that other stuff. It’s a cop out. I don’t want to shrug these tragedies off with “thoughts and prayers” that have not stopped these killings. All that does is deflect from the problem: people are bringing semi-automatic weapons into our schools and slaughtering innocent young lives. People are taking weapons into churches, movie theaters, shopping malls, nightclubs and slaughtering innocent people.

I want everyone to be safe.

I want a solution.

I’ve heard talk about arming our teachers.

That’s not the answer. In fact, of the teachers I have spoken with since those 17 lives were taken from us, none has warmed to the idea of guns in the classroom.

“Hell, no,” said one. “It’s the most ridiculous idea I’ve ever heard.”

“Enough! Republicans, end these stupid solutions and pass legislation that works,” said a former teacher of mine.

In the wake of the news that a trained sheriff’s deputy ducked to safety while the killing went down at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, what makes those pushing for weapons in the classroom so sure that a teacher would be able to drop the hammer on a bad guy with a gun? Unless you have ever drawn a weapon in anger, you have no idea about the myriad thoughts that go through your head, the doubts, the moral conflict at the prospect of actually taking a human life.

Who would be responsible for arming the teachers? School districts nationwide are on tight budgets as it is. Are you willing to endure a tax hike for the hours of training, practice and necessary qualifying exercises a teacher would need to carry a gun on campus? Are you willing to pay for the guns and ammo necessary plus the range fees for the constant practice shooting requires? Just because some gun aficionado likes to plink cans on the weekend or hunt during deer season does not mean they are qualified to act as a surrogate law enforcement officer. Besides, as we saw in Florida, when lives were at stake, a sworn officer of the law chose to hide rather than protect the children and confront the shooter. How would a teacher hold up under that pressure?

How would teachers be picked for armed duty? Who would determine the mental fitness of a teacher selected as one of the armed guards? You can’t just hand it off to the gym teachers and coaches who are often located in different corners of the campus.

There is also the danger of sorting out the good guys from the bad. If a school shooting is going down, law enforcement is going to draw down, at the very least, on anybody holding a weapon at the scene. They will then disarm and interrogate the teacher, meaning fewer officers will be able to chase the real shooter.

There are new voices in this debate, however, vibrant voices blessed with an energy fueled by youth.

In 2016, only about half of all eligible millennials voted. However, if current passions remain and our youth hold their focus, that could change sharply for the upcoming midterms, the impetus coming from the Florida shooting. They could very well supplant the boomers in the voting booth in November if they continue to unify their voice, which could happen as the March 24 March for Our Lives and April 20 school walkouts take place.

I am hoping that in the run-up to the midterms every effort is made to register these young people to vote so they can institute the changes we were unable to make and repair the damage we left in our wake.

I don’t know if we just got complacent or lazy or too tired.

Whatever the reasons, we failed.

That’s why I support those young voices. We have, for too many years, ignored them whether through arrogance or ignorance, which helped carve that deep generational chasm between millennials and the aging baby boomers who are starting to sound like a bad Andy Rooney rant when talking about our young people.

That has got to stop.

It’s time for the geezers to either lend a hand or step out of the way.

No bad days!

Ed Kociela is an opinion columnist for St. George News. The opinions stated in this article are his own and may not be representative of St. George News.

Email: edkociela.mx@gmail.com

Twitter: @STGnews, @EdKociela