Years of wonder and reaction to inaction

The Wonder Years  is on my mind.

If you grew up in the 1980s/1990s, you should know the show pretty well. The original broadcast/premiere of the period-piece show (with its heavy nostalgic opening credits complimented earnestly by Joe Cocker) was on January 31st, 1988…

…but the writers strike in Hollywood delayed the full-on series to fully gestate until 1989.

That’s not what’s putting the show on my mind though.

The memory is a stressed out Kevin Arnold (the central character, played by Fred Savage and voiced in retrospective narration by Daniel Stern) leaving his classroom in a tense  huff of a moment and inadvertently  initiating a walkout of his high school’s student body. It was a protest of the Vietnam War and had been a denounced action by those in charge of the school, threatening suspensions for any and all who participated.

I can’t find a full-context video of the moment, but this shows it in slight:

[UPDATE Saturday, February 23rd, 2018;  Full conteXt? How about the full episdoe? Daily Motion will hook you up. For the sake of text reference for a web search of your own, it’s Episode 10 of season 2.)

This stuff pops into my head not because I’m in a nostalgic,  retrospective, entertainment mood by more so because of talk and rumors of action taking place tied to Wednesday’s atrocity at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School .

Inaction and lip-service by members of Congress seems to have led to this as well as the Dotard in Covrfefe’s reaction and sadistic defense of Nicholas Cruz.

The idea of a walkout is in protest of a lack of gun control… That’s not Vietnam, it’s the internal war that’s been raging since when? Columbine? Sandy Hook has been cited, but it started before then. How many school shootings need to take place before American society and i’s political representatives initiate and adhere to reform?

I cite Columbine, but it’s not just the threat towards children and America’s future, but mass-shootings at other locales — Las Vegas being the most recent one in memory. Orlando preceding it.

There ae a lot of politics and ideological contrasts that play out that lead to the limited action or total inaction by those in charge as well as the gun companies. The 2nd amendment of the Bill of Rights is invoked – blindly – as a protection to the industry as well as individual ownership. Through marred debate and limited reform, everything stays in its continued state with a pleased, armed community and a scandalous National Rifle Association grinning at a thwarted plot to make changes…

And then another incident happens, leading to more lip-service and inaction by those in office and the industry.

These days are a new Wonder Years, where society and politics are writing a dramatic story for individuals of many races, creeds, genders and (dis)abilities. How the words, actions and deeds of those in control will define the generation coming-of-age now is a tale unto itself. The plot will only thicken in

As I write this, I’ve been made aware of walkoutw taking place and as far as I know there may be a multitude. .That’s youth voicing protest. It remains to be seen if Congressional representatives will care or if their campaign funds from the NRA matter more.

UPDATE Friday, Feb. 17 9:48 PM: There is an organized plan for a nationwide walkout.