New England Patriots
Just before this weekend, I posted a blog entry about how the owner of the New England Patriots, Robert Kraft, had the Parkland students who survived last month's mass shooting take the official team plane up to Washington to join in the protests.
Well, it turns out that there was slightly more to that story than I knew about. Kraft actually left a letter there for the students to read, and it was really something! He clearly considers them leaders and true patriots helping the country "towards a better future."
That was pretty cool of him to do so!
Here is the fuller story, and the earlier blog from before the march:
Read the letter Kraft left on plane for Parkland students By NBC Sports Boston Report March 26, 2018:
http://www.nbcsports.com/boston/patriots/read-letter-kraft-left-plane-parkland-students
Parkland Students Flew to DC For March on Plane of the New England Patriots (originally published on March 24, 2018):
This is rather unexpected!
The New England Patriots allowed the students at Parkland High School to use their plane in order to attend the March for our Lives event in Washington, D.C. to be held later today, and so it seemed very appropriate to write a story about them, and what they are doing.
It is an unexpected, but encouraging gesture by a professional football team - and NFL teams are not usually known for their progressive stances.
Apparently, Patriots owner Robert Kraft was persuaded to do this by former Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. She herself was shot in the head during a mass shooting in Tucson, in her home state of Arizona, during one of her political rallies. Ever since, Giffords has become one of the most prominent voices for gun control legislation in this country.
These kids have been amazing! After surviving one of the very worst school shootings in American history, they have become incredibly politically active. Everywhere you look, they are on the news, making headlines, forcing attention on an issue that, obviously, impacts them tremendously.
Obviously, this activity has generated a lot of attention. Some of it has itself made news, because it is the unwanted attention of gun nuts who have taken to threatening the students. Think about that, these kids survived one of the worst school shootings, and then voiced their concerns that this kind of tragedy could happen again. Now, precisely because they sounded off on this issue, they are being threatened with, of all things, gun violence.
A truly American paradox, is it not? It kind of brings new meaning to that old phrase, "Only in America," doesn't it? Only, that is not the way most Americans want to think about their country.
Now, it is not only enemies who have been noticing the activism of the Parkland kids. They have plenty of supporters, including, obviously, Congresswoman Giffords and the New England Patriots organization, as well of plenty of others. That includes actor Bill Murray, who recently likened the group and it's activism to the student anti-war movement during the Vietnam era:
"I was thinking, looking at the kids in Parkland, Florida who have started these anti-gun protests, that it really was the students that began the end of the Vietnam War. It was the students who made all the news, and that noise started, and then the movement wouldn't stop. I think, maybe, this noise that those students in Florida are making — here, today — will do something of the same nature."
Now, that's high praise!
I am both pleasantly surprised, as well as proud of the kids at Parkland. Sometimes, my cynicism gets in the way of things, and I remain overly skeptical that meaningful change will occur anytime soon. But these kids have me feeling something that feels priceless: hope for a better, brighter future, one where this country finally joins the world community in obtaining sensible gun measures to keep dangerous, violent people from being able to have quick and easy access to deadly weapons.
Whether or not I am there physically today during the march, I stand with the students of Parkland!
I am both pleasantly surprised, as well as proud of the kids at Parkland. Sometimes, my cynicism gets in the way of things, and I remain overly skeptical that meaningful change will occur anytime soon. But these kids have me feeling something that feels priceless: hope for a better, brighter future, one where this country finally joins the world community in obtaining sensible gun measures to keep dangerous, violent people from being able to have quick and easy access to deadly weapons.
Whether or not I am there physically today during the march, I stand with the students of Parkland!
Parkland students flown to DC on Patriots plane BY MAX GREENWOOD - 03/23/18:
Bill Murray The Parkland kids remind me of the students who helped end the Vietnam War Mar.22.2018:
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