I always find myself reminiscing about my past summer working at a kids sleep away camp while here at college — I think back to all the sunsets on the lake, the kids I got to know, the number of stars that splattered the entire sky at night during bonfires — and all these memories are magical, but they are nothing compared to the friendships I formed with other counselors, especially with Scott Beigel.
On Feb. 14, Scott was murdered at a school shooting in Parkland, Fla. while protecting his students in his classroom from the active shooter in the hallway. Opening his door to let students in from the hallway, Scott was shot, opening up his life for others. Scott sacrificed his life with as much integrity and selflessness as he did telling a joke or helping me laugh at the end of a tough day; to him it wasn’t a problem or going out of his way, that was just who he is.
When I first discovered that Scott was killed at his school, every memory I had of him flipped through my mind. The fake tattoos Scott wore each week to make campers laugh, the songs he picked for the tournament playlists that I later looked up for myself and the iconic story he told about his friend from college who was obsessed with clowns all popped up, but not before I remembered how much he truly cared for everyone around him and how deeply he impacted anyone he met. I reflected upon my own experiences and lost count of the amount of times he went out of his way to help me. Scott brought so much light and positivity around him and it breaks my heart that the violence of one person with access to guns was able to change an entire network of lives with one pull of a trigger. Scott didn’t deserve to die, and yet, because the U.S. refuses to enact gun control, people like Scott — specifically 16 others that same day — continue to die.
I hate how I had to watch one of the best minds of our generation fall to the feet of a boy who was fed guns by our country. I hate how our nation is essentially responsible for the death of a man who was more than just my friend, as the FBI ignored the tips about the shooter being dangerous and posting on social media he was going to shoot up a school. I hate it with all my heart, and my heart can’t stop hurting alongside everyone else affected by this massacre.
At the end of the day, an individual’s right to survive another day at school outweighs your right to own any gun you want. If you are complacent about gun laws, you are not looking around at the amount of blood smeared all over Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School from the 17 bodies inside. You are not looking at the blood of Scott, the blood of a hero, the blood of my friend and the blood of a man who shouldn’t have had to sacrifice his life because of a gun. Gun reform needs to take place not now, but yesterday. If you were not outraged at the school shooting, you are part of the problem. You may think to yourself that you will never be affected by a school shooting, but if you don’t vote, call your representatives or text RESIST to 50409, your thoughts could change as quickly as tomorrow.
A couple months earlier, Scott actually told his fianceé Gwen, another counselor from our camp, that if he was ever killed in a school shooting she should tell the world how much of a jerk he was and to not mention the hero stuff. True to her promise, Gwen began Scott’s funeral with his sarcastic anecdote, and despite all the wrong in this world, Scott was still able to get in one last laugh. I am thankful for that last joke, but it won’t serve any justice to laugh along with Scott until the gun laws that caused his death are reformed before another jerk like Scott is taken.
Sally Kershner, a Features Editor for the Voice, can be reached for comment at SKershner@wooster.edu.