One man may be responsible for the slaughter of innocents. All of us are responsible for stopping it.

While watching the coverage of the horrific school shooting in Florida, I thought of the words of the late Marjorie Williams, a journalist at the Washington Post who once wrote “Time and chance happen to us all, darling child, and even grown-ups can bear it only a little at a time.” 

Being able to “bear it only a little at a time” resonates with me. As a father, grandfather and uncle I find myself changing the channel away from the carnage.   But this was more than “time and chance” happening. Time and chance at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School were compounded by a sickness and evil whose deadly consequence was politically enabled, and can only be stopped by political courage.

Everyone who works with or on behalf of kids – whether in hunger, health, education, sports  – has a responsibility to protect the work they do and the kids they serve, by standing up for common sense gun safety laws that the majority of Americans say they support. In fact, we have an even greater responsibility than others.

One man may be responsible for the slaughter of innocents. All of us are responsible for stopping it.