John, it was an honor to speak at the March for Our Lives in Orlando this weekend, and I came away knowing one thing:

This time is different.

I’ll tell you what I told the crowd of people who were all there united in the goal of ending gun violence.

What got me involved in this work was the Sandy Hook shooting. I convinced my parents to let me go to the vigil in Washington D.C., and it was there that I met Matthew Soto.

I remember Matthew crying about his sister Vicki, who was a teacher at Sandy Hook. When she heard those gunshots, she hid her students in cabinets. When the shooter asked where her students were, she said “I’m not going to tell you” and he ended her life.

Seeing a 16 year old with the demeanor of a 60 year old, crying over his sister who was killed for just going to school to teach, completely changed my life.

When I got back to my hotel that night I said to myself, I’m going to fight for a world where no one has to feel the way I saw Matthew feel that night.

The only time we fail is when we stop trying. A better world without gun violence is possible.

We need to confront our elected leaders and demand change.

We need to be the voices that they can’t ignore. We’re not gonna stop protesting, voting, and getting involved in our community. Because we know that a better world is possible and that we deserve it.

In Solidarity,

Maxwell Alejandro Frost