This past weekend, Sydney Aiello, who survived the 2018 massacre at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida died from suicide. According to her mother, Sidney suffered from survivor’s guilt and had recently been diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder.  And then latter during the weekend a second suicide of another Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students occurred. So far the name of the student has not been released.  And so the needless deaths from that particular American tragedy continue.

Last year, shortly after the Parkland shootings I photographed the local March For Our Lives and the rally that followed it here in Doylestown, but soon became enveloped by the event itself.  The marchers were of all age groups, but in particular there were a lot of teenagers present. I made some good photographs but nothing memorable. Then several months latter I attended a dramatic follow on demonstration here that was organized solely by local high school students.  The picture above was made during that event.

Going back to the original march and rally … any doubts I might have had about the younger generation were dispelled that day when I heard the eloquent speakers … some only 14 years old … give their heartfelt speeches about senseless gun violence and their hopes that something could be done about it.  They had obviously been doing more in their spare time than playing video games, obsessing over their social media accounts or text messaging.  I felt much better about this generation that would soon be changing the political landscape with their votes … and about the future of our country.

There’s no doubt that we live in strange and challenging times, not only here in America but worldwide. Hate and violence are on the rise … racism, anti Semitism and more. In this country it is manifested in tweets, violent protests and shootings.   Yet what I witnessed at both events gave me hope that better times will come.