The following is a transcript of the speech given by Will Howes during the LHS walkout that occured on March 14, 2018. The purpose of the walkout was to honor the victims of the Parkland shooting and to inspire the student body to push for change together.

“Today, we exercise our right to assemble in order to remember the victims of the Parkland shooting. In the aftermath of the tragic loss of 17 lives one month ago today, we are presented with an opportunity to come together as a school, and to be better.

You all had a choice to stay in class today, and you chose to be here. You showed up. You’ve shown that you not only care, but that you’re willing do more than just send your thoughts and prayers through a tweet.

During these times when the future can feel uncertain, we need each other the most. Going through something difficult is hard enough, but going through it alone is so much worse. When you see someone struggling, having a bad day, trying to cope with a loss, maybe something worse, the best thing you can do is be there for them. Your ability to help someone, just by saying good morning or complimenting their shirt or offering your ears so that they feel heard, there is nothing in the world as strong as that.

It’s frighteningly easy to overlook the people who need a friend the most. Students sitting alone at lunch. Perpetual frowners in the back of class. People ostracized by their peers retreat even further from those around them, and that isn’t what we need.

I speak about this as if it were some abstract concept pulled from a cave painting, something our founding fathers solved a long time ago, something that would never go on in a place as refined as Lincoln High. But its not. Whether or not it was done it on purpose, we created an environment where its normal to ignore the people who just need some love.

By throwing a smile in someone’s direction, making them feel noticed and appreciated and welcome, you can shift the course of their day. That’s a responsibility I think most of us don’t respect enough because we forget how much power we have over one another. Giving someone just five minutes of comradery can stop them from doing something they might regret.

This isn’t a plea to befriend everyone who looks lonely. Rather, it’s a reminder that you, as an individual, have way more power than you think.

The best way I see to foster an environment where people feel safe surrounded by their peers is to actively try to understand where we all come from and why.

Why don’t you think the same way that I do? Why don’t I think that same way that you do? The experiences that a person lives through that shape who they are and what they believe are unique for everyone, yet we like to imagine everyone around us is the same. And fundamentally, we are. We all eat, sleep and breathe, we just do each of those things in our own way.

The same forces drive how we think. My perspective on something may be 180 degrees opposite of yours, but that’s because my life leading up to that moment has been entirely different from yours. My thoughts on the solution to gun violence in America, to prevent tragedies like the Parkland Shooting from continuing to happen every day, doesn’t have to be the same as yours. We are all allowed to think differently, to think for ourselves, and I encourage it. The strongest ideas are the ones that are founded out of many, not one. But condemning one solution over another, squabbling at who’s right and wrong, is pointless.

If we want to heal, to begin to recover from the violence that has infected our nation, we have to make an effort to understand each other.

I’m not here to say that I, or any one person, knows all the answers to the many problems we face in this city and around the country, but a willingness to involve yourself in things you believe in shows that we, together, care. Showing up is the easiest thing to do that nobody ever does. So thank you for showing up. You’ve already made things better.”

Speakers note: There have been good solutions proposed by all sides to reduce gun-violence. My concern is that Congress politicizes these shootings to the point that gun-violence has become a partisan issue. Gun violence isn’t a partisan issue, its a national safety issue and it involves everyone. Its important to respect everyone’s opinions on how we can work to make things better, but we cannot afford to continue watching innocent people gunned down without pushing for change. Educate yourself online, start a conversation with your friends, contact your representatives, do something. Your voice is too powerful to be silent.