“Enough is enough!” “Vote them out!” “Not one more!” “Show me what Democracy looks like!”
These were among the phrases I chanted with my fellow marchers at the March For Our Lives in Boston this past Saturday. The main March took place in Washington D.C., while over 800 sibling marches took place around the globe, even outside the U.S., from London to Sydney.
My experience at the march began with a magic moment. Four friends and I drove around Boston side streets, completely lost and hurriedly searching for a parking spot at around 11am, the step-off time of the march from Madison Park. Hoping that we were somewhere near the march route, we finally found a spot on a random little one way street, grabbed our signs and rushed out of the car to walk towards what looked like a main road. As we turned the corner, a wall of thousands of people marched steadily towards us, only a few yards from where we stood. The image brought butterflies to my stomach as I turned to my friends and confirmed “It was meant to be.”
In the sun and eventual rain, we marched the nearly 3 miles to Boston Common. All around us, spectators cheered from apartment windows, waving us on. When we arrived at the Commons, voices turned raspy from chanting, organizers split up the group into students and adults. With the students I went left, marching down a wide path lined with thousands of adults applauding us, holding up signs, as we made our way to the stage at the center of the rally. I could not contain my smile as I raised my protest poster up high for the sidelines to see, shouting “We want change, we want change, we want change!” This smile was soon to turn to tears as we listened to the emotion-filled speeches of the student-speakers on stage.
Looking back on the march, one aspect that stood out the most was the similar facial expression of every marcher in Boston, and undoubtedly of every March for Our Lives participant around the world. Yes, everyone was friendly and kind, their mouths shaped to smiles. But their eyes held a trace of something different from kindness: determination. In the eyes of each marcher was a certain indescribable spark. This little twinkle said it all: we want change and we want it now.