A Note-able Meeting

The POTUS, after Parkland,
Decided to invite
A group of the survivors
To speak about their plight.

It opened with a prayer
Offered to our Lord and Savior.
To the Jewish people present
Must have seemed like odd behavior.

Mike Pence spoke at the open
But I’m not sure what he said.
I turn the volume down
Whenever I see his grey head.

DeVos was there as well, and
Spoke about this matter cruel.
No shock that she invited
People from a charter school.

After she was finished speaking
Then it turned back to the POTUS,
Who was clutching something scribbled —
A photographer took notice.

A piece of paper listed
Things the President might mention
So he’d sound more empathetic
In amidst the pain and tension.

He sat and listened (mostly)
While letting all the others
Express their angst and sorrow –
Mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers.

It was unprecedented.
A moment most remarkable.
You couldn’t help but feel
For all these people with hearts full.

The speakers, for the most part,
Were polite and deferential
While offering suggestions
Of responses thought essential.

Yet still, there were some moments
Where the pain was crystal clear.
One father saying he was “pissed”
His child’s no longer here.

Other parents in attendance:
Columbine and Sandy Hook.
Speaking sadly of their losses
And the lives that gunmen took.

One of the ideas
That received a frequent mention
Was to recognize the signs
Before it happens – more prevention.

And after all had spoken
Then the POTUS shared a plan:
It’s called “concealed carry” —
Putting guns in teachers’ hands.

He said if a teacher had a gun,
Then the perpetrator
Would be laid out with a single shot
Sooner, and not later.

This suggestion offered
By a man whose point of view
Led to saying he could shoot someone
Right on Fifth Avenue.

“The answer to a bad guy
Is a good guy with a gun.”
But couldn’t that result in
Two shot dead, instead of one?

If “Teach” was packing heat, then
That might quell a student outburst.
They wouldn’t shoot their mouths off
If the teacher chose to shoot first.

The answer to guns is – more guns?
A position some have taken.
Like responding to a heart attack
Means you should eat more bacon.

Let’s give the POTUS credit
Since he said in minutes – two –
He would follow up this meeting
With a list of things to do.

But without a real reduction
In these instruments of slaughter
Then it doesn’t matter what we do:
We’re all dead in the water.