Gen Z Pivots Toward Democracy

https://www.nytimes.com/video/us/100000005816189/march-for-our-lives.html

It's estimated that more than 800,000 people marched in Washington D. C. Along with student speeches and some professional entertainment, they heard the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School Drama Club perform, “Shine". (See the performance at 2:15:55 in the video link above or below in the video from the CNN coverage of the Town Hall meeting, 21 Feb 2018.)

Shine was written just days after the murders by Sawyer Garrity (16) and Andrea Peña (15), two survivors of the tragic Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School mass shooting.

Nothing says more to me about these young women and men and their determination to change our society for the better than the lyrics of this song.

It is a clear statement of their outrage and refusal of the "passive acceptance" of past generations. As Ms. Garrity says, "It’s our call for action and hope."

Shine - 21 Feb 2018

Shine
You, you threw my city away.
You tore down the walls and opened up all the gates.
You, you ruined this town.
You burned all of the bridges, and you slowly let us drown.

But you’re not gonna knock us down;
We’ll get back up again.
You may have hurt us,
But I promise we’ll be stronger and—
We’re not gonna let you win.
We’re putting up a fight.
You may have brought the dark,
But together we will shine the light.
And whoa, we will be something special.
Whoa, we’re gonna shine (shine).

We’re, we’re gonna stand tall,
Gonna raise up our voices so we never, ever fall.
We’re done with all your little games.
We’re tired of hearing that we’re too young to ever make a change.

‘Cuz you’re not gonna knock us down;
We’ll get back up again.
You may have hurt us,
But I promise we’ll be stronger and—
We’re not gonna let you win;
We’re putting up a fight.
You may have brought the dark,
But together we will shine the light, and—

Whoa, we’re gonna shine (shine)
We can hug a little tighter.
We can love a little more.
Laugh a little harder,
We can stand up and roar.
If we all come together, it will be all right.
Stand up for one another, and we’ll never give up the fight.

You’re not gonna knock us down;
We’ll get back up again.
You may have hurt us,
But I promise we’ll be stronger and—
We’re not gonna let you win.
We’re putting up a fight.
You may have brought the dark,
But together we will shine the light.
You’re not gonna knock us down;
We’ll get back up again.
You may have hurt us,
But I promise we’ll be stronger and—
We’re not gonna let you win;
We’re putting up a fight.
You may have brought the dark,
But together we will shine the light, and—
Whoa, we will be something special.
Whoa, we will shine.

For me, that Washington D.C. performance was not only symbolic of the March for Our Lives protest event on Saturday, 24 Mar 2018. It was a tipping point in the history of the United States. 

Generation Z has emerged. They are the "Pivotal" generation. They will be the force that "pivots" America back to the ideals of the writers of the Declaration of Independence and the U,S, Constitution. Not only that, these young people will make sure our government lives up to those ideals. 

"Across the country, there were more than two dozen marches that occurred in large cities, including New York, Miami, Cincinnati, Houston, Atlanta, Baltimore, and Pittsburgh. Rallies were also held around the world in Israel, New Zealand, Australia, the U.K., Japan, Belgium, India, France and Chile."

"In total, organizers estimated there were approximately 800 marches organized on Friday and Saturday — even one in Antarctica."

Our president? Well, Mr. Trump was in Florida, less than an hour's drive from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, at  his private club, Mar-a-Lago, golfing.