There's been so much media coverage of the Parkland, Florida shooting that one would think we've seen everything there is to see, heard everything there is to hear, and know everything about the students, parents, families, and community that there is to know. But nothing could really be farther from the truth.
Can you say that you have a hidden view into the living rooms of families of the fallen? Into the bedrooms of teens who have lost friends? When you go to bed at night and stare at the ceiling, who is in the next room? No one who wasn't there and didn't go through those terrible events can say with honesty that they know exactly how it feels to be one of those affected in Parkland, Florida.
I got the rare opportunity to speak with a young woman who is one of fifty youth from Parkland who got together to hold a private vigil of sorts, away from the media and cameras, away from the watchful (and blessed) eyes of the police and other officials, away from the masses who have come to gather and join the movement, and away from those watching from afar, assuming that their televisions have told them everything.
This young woman's name is Andrea Parker. And no, that is not a play on words, not a joke, not scripted. She is not a "crisis actor" and my writing here is not part of some conspiracy or whatever the nutjobs on the Internet have tried to make out the shooting to be. She is a young woman of seventeen years who allowed me to interview and speak with her about the private and unseen world of recovery for teens in Parkland, Florida.
The most interesting thing about our conversation is that Ms. Parker revealed that just as has been done in public by the affected youth, in private, many have also taken to creative and individual ways of dealing with the stress, horror, and in many ways, the isolation caused when such a national spotlight comes down on your city, school, peers, and families, when such a tragedy occurs.
There are so many lights and cameras, police vehicles and onlookers, government officials, and just passers by, that beyond the bright spotlight of attention lies within the hearts of many students an awkward feeling of being cast out in such a different way that many would find it hard to understand.
So many television appearances. So many public speeches. So much in the faces of the surviving victims that some have taken to, and wisely so, private gatherings in which feelings, emotions, thoughts, prayers, and all in-between are spoken only within "secret" groups, meeting beyond the periphery of the media blaze and even beyond some of those who have taken the important roles of being the spokespeople out in the limelight, speaking to news outlets twenty times a day, and creating new life schedules to accommodate the time to travel and spread the message of gun control.
While Andrea was so kind to allow me to interview her and share part of her private world, knowing that my intent was to write and share of it, she asked me to share only a piece, to spare any further details or names, and to keep my descriptions general and vague enough to protect the sanctity and privacy of her inner-circle of friends. And I respect that and respect her for demanding that I do it.
Imagine fifty teens gathered after sunset somewhere nearby, but remote enough to be removed from all that has shined that spotlight on them. An empty football field? Another high school's gymnasium? Perhaps the backyard of one of the family's houses? To honor my promise to Andrea, of course I won't divulge the details, but let me paint a picture for you. An idea, like so many, sprung right from the young and budding minds of these youth, who have lept into action and have taken to their individual personalities and intellect to create pathways for change, and pathways for healing and recovery in their own lives.
They call themselves "The Fifty." Just that. Pretty vague, right? Doesn't say much about who they are, where they're from, what their purpose is. The Fifty. The fifty what, you might ask. Here comes the look inside this private and removed group of young adults that Ms. Parker allowed and wanted me to share. Why this part? I think I know. But she didn't explain in detail and I didn't ask. But it was her desire that I do so and so I will.
The Fifty are fifty (or so) teens that decided to get together and meet away from the press, away from the police, away from their parents, and in a way, away from the world. Within the world but not, in a manner of thinking. It was spoken to me a phrase that comes after that title, The Fifty, but quite earnestly, I don't remember the words verbatim. But I can tell you what it means and who these teens are, who they describe themselves as to themselves, and how they identify.
"The fifty who took a vow of silence." Or perhaps, "The fifty who are silent." ... "The fifty keeping it private." The phrase translated to that idea in general. And again, I want to point out that I am not here to write some creative article with no basis in fact which is part of some conspiracy of which no one knows the purpose, etc., etc., etc. I am trying to do Andrea and her peers the service of telling the world what she wanted me to tell.
"Some people want to be left alone." That is a direct quote. And the only one I will quote from her. And that is the purpose of The Fifty. It isn't a group of the younger community who are disaffected with the media or law enforcement response or their families. It isn't a radical splinter group trying to promote some off-the-wall extreme agenda. It's the opposite. A group of people who had enough of the spotlights, enough of the attention, and decided on a creative solution of another type. One with a more personal purpose and meaning which believe me does not imply to say that any of these teens are less involved with the quest to see a new era of gun control than those who have appointed themselves to be the visual and spoken leaders to the public.
I guess to sum it up, in situations like this, or maybe in many others, there are people who want the respect of being left alone. And I think every person on this planet deserves to choose to a reasonable degree the environment in which they live. It's not too hard to leave someone alone when they obviously do not want to talk, or when they ask for privacy. I think everyone in the group would want me to say that the idea and environment that they have created for themselves is one that needs to be respected. The Fifty, as they call themselves, have no names that leave their private gathering. And no one will mention the group outside their cherished and sacred meeting place. So to suggest that they need some special treatment or inquiry is beyond the point.
And with that, just as my conversation with Andrea seemed to come to a quiet yet abrupt end, and she made her way to wherever she was going, and I made mine... To go about our ways, not really knowing what the other would do that day, and with me most likely never knowing what kind of intimate and personal conversations and interactions occur within their private group... so shall I leave the readers now, with the thought and concept in mind of what I've just described. I wish you well today and in your days to come.
