After 911 George W. Bush began using the horrific event as an excuse to attack Iraq, a country that had nothing to do with that terrible day. For months many of us around the nation participated in weekly demonstrations protesting the very notion of a “preemptive strike” against a country that did nothing to deserve it. To my dismay, the demonstrators were mostly middle-aged or older, with noticeably few youth participants. Then, when the war began, and our country was killing hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians, there still weren’t many millennials marching with us in the streets. Given the impact our nation’s youth had during the Vietnam era, their slight presence during the Bush era was disheartening. Yet today nothing has given me greater encouragement and hope for our future than those teenagers around the nation demanding an end to the violent militarization of our society, demanding reforms that will finally get weapons of war off our streets and away from our schools. Generation X—today’s generation of children and teenagers—is launching into adulthood by taking responsibility for the future, a future with less violence, less hypocrisy, and less complacency. Their protests will not stop with the issue of school shootings, but, as people passionate about peace and justice, they shall lead the way toward racial equality, gender equality, transgender equality, income equality, environmental justice, ridding the world of nuclear weapons once and for all, and creating a global system of democracy—real democracy, based on tolerance, compassion, and mutual respect. So, I want to give this shout out to our inspiring teenagers and youth, who are shaping up to become our greatest generation. Thanks for your courage, your passion, your compassion, and for giving us all such strong reason for hope.