By Dina Gorelik
America. The American Dream. What does it mean? To me, it means having the power to choose. In the U.S., you can live your life as you want to, not going by what other people tell you to do.
The power of choice is vital in creating fully contributing members of society. When people have autonomy over their lives and can choose what to do, they are generally more happy doing so. They also put more effort into projects that they are passionate about.
I love this aspect of the U.S., as it creates an enormously diverse country with many different opinions. This diversity only makes our country stronger. However, I think once your choices start to impact other people’s lives, it is necessary to reevaluate them.
A hotly debated issue right now is gun control. The question of gun control, to me, seems logical. While I want people to be able to choose what to do with their lives,  I also have moral principles—killing people is disgraceful. When people are killed, they are robbed of their opportunity to make choices.
To me, the logical thing is to require more training and education of people who bear arms. The ability to drive a car, which can be a very dangerous thing, requires education, a permit test, and then a license test. Why isn’t the same required of gun owners?
I was in fourth grade when the Sandy Hook shooting occurred. I remember hearing about it at school, and later that day, my mom told told me what had happened. It was incomprehensible to me why someone would decide to go kill elementary students. It still is. This must change—we cannot let our children, this nation’s future, be murdered.
It is vital that students act. The walkout was only the start of change; the North community showed their solidarity and support for gun violence, but this alone will not change policy.
We, the students, the future, cannot sit in silence while people continue to murder our classmates; we must tell our government that their complacent behavior is unacceptable. In the U.S., we have the choice to peacefully protest, so we must protest. We must show our disapproval. We are the future; if the current administration does nothing, we will change that. We will vote them out of office, and we will be the leaders of tomorrow, even if our current leadership cannot.
The opinions expressed in this article are from a guest writer and do not represent the official stance of The Newtonite as a publication.