Look in the mirror

I write these words as yet another shooting has occurred, this time in Kentucky. Of course, I know what many of you are thinking. When is it too much? When are we going to do something? It won’t be done with any help from Republicans. They don’t care, as we’ve said many a time.

Activism comes in all shapes and sizes in various incarnations. You never know when a hero, an activist, or a change-maker will pop up. It could be anytime, anywhere. What I see all around me right now are many heroes, activists and change-makers. They are you, dear friends and readers.

You are the heroes, you are the activists, and you are the change-makers. Why do I say this? Because of Wisconsin, where we took back the Supreme Court. YOU helped make that happen with your voices and your votes. YOU became those heroes, those activists, and those change-makers everybody seeks.

Whether you donated five dollars or fifty, whether you retweeted Twitter activists, whether you phone banked or encouraged others to vote — no matter what type of activism you did — you are a hero.

You took back the White House. You took Georgia in the special elections. Heroism is all over the country, and it comes from ordinary everyday Americans like you and me and everyone who throws their souls into creating positive change.

And we can do this with gun reform. We can do it in much the same way we do everything else — with our activism and our votes. Life is precious. We’ve seen too much death. Our children have been scared way too much. Our legacy will be to leave a purer, more loving America to our children and grandchildren.

That’s what activism is all about. And some of it isn’t easy. Some of it can make one impatient and sometimes feel like we’re engaged in a battle of futility. But those are the exact times when we need to take deep breaths and look at the big picture and what we’ve already done.

Gun violence is an issue that reverberates with everyone except for, of course, republican extremists. And we will win this battle as well. It will be won through long-term strategy, planning, and pouring our hearts and minds into changing the whole structure of how guns are thought about and talked of in this country. It’s a hard fight to be sure. But we can do it.