The Youth Shall Lead Us

I had the pleasure of attending the Peter Yarrow and Noel Paul Stookey concert last weekend.  If you don't recognize the names, they are the Peter and Paul of the Peter, Paul and Mary folk trio.  It was nice to see that 50 years later they both still support the counter culture movement of the 1960s.  The values the movement championed are becoming more important each day in the Me Too movement and the March for Our Lives.  Bringing forward the ideals from the counter culture will truly  allow us to build a better America.  I still believe in those values of anti-materialism, environmentalism, and non-violence.  It looks to me like these are also valuable and appealing to a broad range of my fellow Americans and especially the youth of our country.

Peter and Paul both spoke passionately about the March for Our Lives and the need for us to listen to the youth leading this movement.  It made me think back to a song that Debbie Freidman wrote and recorded about children.  The first time I heard it was at my son's pre-school graduation.  It is such a beautiful song and is even more relevant today than when it was first written.  It should be the anthem for the youth movement that are fighting for much needed gun control in this country. 

Here are the lyrics:

And The Youth Shall See Visionsby Debbie Friedman

Childhood was for fantasies, for nursery rhymes and toys.
The world was much too busy to understand small girls and boys.
As I grew up, I came to learn that life was not a game,
That heroes were just people that we called another name.
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions,
And our hopes shall rise up to the sky.
We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
Now I’m grown, the years have passed, I’ve come to understand:
There are choices to be made and my life’s at my command.
I cannot have a future ’til I embrace my past.
I promise to pursue the challenge, time is going fast.
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions,
And our hopes shall rise up to the sky.
We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
Today’s the day I take my stand, the future’s mine to hold.
Commitments that I make today are dreams from days of old.
I have to make the way for generations come and go.
I have to teach them what I’ve learned so they will come to know.
And the old shall dream dreams, and the youth shall see visions,
And our hopes shall rise up to the sky.
We must live for today; we must build for tomorrow.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life.
Give us time, give us strength, give us life.

Debbie was right.  Our nation's youth is taking a stand against guns and gun violence.  They are protesting the fact that our country continues to basically have unchecked access to guns of all kinds.  Since our elected leaders are beholden to the gun lobby, it will take the youth to fix this problem through their rallies and keeping the pressure on the government.  Whether you want to believe it or not, something has to change and now.  I am not advocating taking away guns entirely.  But 150,000 primary or secondary school students have witnessed a shooting incident at their school since the Columbine shooting in 1999.  And they have had enough.  When I watch these incredibly passionate and well spoken youth, I am both heartbroken for and proud of them for stepping in where the adults are unwilling to go.   All they are asking for is commonsense gun safety reforms. 

As Debbie sang...they are taking the stand today to allow them to live not only for today but to build for tomorrow.  I join them in their discussions of solutions and glad to see them organizing, stepping up and demanding accountability of our spineless elected leaders.  It's time that we elect legislators that are not in the pockets of various lobbyists.  We want to be led by people who listen to what we the citizens want in this country.  If that can ever happen, I believe we will finally pass commonsense laws that will allow this country to thrive and allow our children to be able to go to school without fear of being injured or killed. 

Mar 20 – 6.30 miles (54:13, 8:36 pace) – Speed work
Mar 21 – 4.20 miles (40:00, 9:31 pace)
Mar 22 – 8.30 miles (1:14:08, 8:56 pace) – Tempo Run
Mar 23 – 4.10 miles (37:21, 9:06 pace)
Mar 24 – 10.10 miles (1:31:41, 9:05 pace)
Mar 25 – 7.50 miles (01:09:40, 9:17 pace)
Mar 26 – 4.50 miles (48:35, 10:48 pace) – Hill Repeats
Mar 27 – 6.30 miles (54:37, 8:40 pace) – Speed work
Mar 29 – 5.10 miles (42:36, 8:21 pace) – Tempo Run
Mar 30 – 8.10 miles (1:16:05, 9:23 pace)
Mar 31 – 12.40 miles (1:53:08, 9:07 pace)
Apr 1 – 5.50 miles (50:16, 9:09 pace)

Total Miles:  82.4 miles
2018 Total Miles:  382.1 miles