Adults are supposed to have the monopoly on wisdom about the important things in life. At least that's what we tell younger people when they ask questions like, "How can I go to school without being afraid of being shot?"
Hillsborough School Board member Lynn Gray found that out Monday when she joined other elected officials in a meeting with students about how to approach the terrifying issue of gun violence today.
Gray, an adult, made a point that students should be hospitable - a reasonable point, but basically off topic.
"There's a lot of anger in your schools, and you know that," Gray said.
I will give her the benefit of the doubt that she didn't intend to be condescending, but that's how it came across.
Marlene Sokol captured what happened next in her Tampa Bay Times story, when Plant High student Marcie Lavender, 17, nailed it.
"Mass shootings occur everywhere," she said in response. "I am not only affected by gun violence when I'm walking into a classroom, but when I go to a movie theater. When I go to the mall.
"The issue is gun violence, has always been gun violence and will not stop being gun violence until we pass conclusive measures."
Yep.
Sure, students should be nicer to each other. People were saying the same thing when I was in high school longer ago than I want to think about. We had bullies then, but they didn't bring AR-15s to school with high-capacity magazines.
Yes, Marcie, the issue is gun violence.
It has always been gun violence.
But opponents come up with smokescreens. It's about mental health, they say. Or it's not about the weapon, but the person using the weapon.
Or, those poor little darlings who just witnessed the slaughter of 17 friends and teachers at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High should just trust the grown-ups ... well, just because.
As state Rep. Elizabeth Porter, a Republican by way of the planet Zortron, said recently on the state House floor, "The adults make the laws because we have the age. We have the wisdom. And we have the experience to make these laws. We have to make laws with our heads and not with our emotions. Because emotions will lead us astray."
Funny thing about emotions.
Bullets flying randomly in school halls and classrooms have a way of inflaming them. Going to funerals of friends who died too soon is emotional.
Porter's comment showed how much opponents of tighter gun regulation are willing to twist and contort to maintain the status quo, bloody as it often is.
U.S. Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat, urged students to take their message to a broader audience.
I think that has already started.
Lavender was an organizer in the Tampa March For Our Lives, one of more than 700 such marches worldwide. The silence from some leading elected officials who have not supported gun-control laws was telling.
Others who did talk, such as Florida U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, used both sides of their mouth. Rubio noted that while, yeah, lots of people want tougher gun laws, lots of others don't.
Very statesmanlike.
Rubio likes to quote Bible verses too, and Easter is upon us - the day that defines Christian belief in a risen Jesus Christ. He was a peacemaker, you know. He said peacemakers were blessed.
The Bible teaches that even as he was being arrested, he told the apostle Peter to put his sword away.
He healed the ear of a soldier struck by Peter's sword.
You can look it up.
In the meantime, I believe it's not as hopeless as it seems. I believe these kids are on to something. They are the ones shouting ENOUGH! They are serious. They are intent on change.
Because the issue is gun violence.
It always has been.