On March 14, 2018, at 10:00 a.m., I participated in a school-wide walk out. I was told the night before about it and decided when I saw the invitation that I was obligated to attend. The plan was that all around America, students were to walk out of their classes and stand in remembrance for 17 minutes to commemorate the 17 students who lost their lives in the Parkland shooting.

As I stood in the middle of campus, I became surrounded by my schoolmates, faculty members, and members of the community. At first, I worried about being alone. But soon I realized that even if I was to stand alone, I was surrounded by people who were bonded by a unifying cause. My unnerved feelings were soon put at ease when I was soon joined by a friend, who had seen my post on Snapchat. Even though we were not close, he disclosed to me his feelings on guns and how they affected him.

That's the thing, we are all connected by this. You know someone who knows someone who is friends with someone who has been either a victim of gun violence or has been affected by gun violence. The world is too small of a place for you not to know someone.

During the 17 minutes, we were asked to go around the circle and read off the names of people who had died in school shootings, both kids, and adults. While we were supposed to finish in 17 minutes, it took 27. 10 pages of people who were no longer living because of school shootings.

My very sensitive feelings caused me to start crying, something I expected and prepared for by wearing sunglasses. Because every minute that ticked by while we stood in the silent snowy air, more names were said...and they kept coming and coming. I felt the weight of each name said on my chest as I looked around to see it was not just me who had tears on their cheeks.

This is the first walkout I have ever participated in, and it taught me a few things.

For one, even though that list was 10 pages long, it didn't name everyone. If we chose to read out everyone who was affected or hurt, it could have taken four days.

We forget that there are more victims of school shootings that just the ones that pass. Yes, those 17 people were victims, but so is every other student who attended Parkland.

or Columbine,

or Sandy Hook.

Yes, everyone else that lived is still alive, but are you really the same kid? Do we ever really get over the trauma of watching a stranger or even worse, a classmate, take your friends and teacher's lives?

17 deaths, countless victims.

It also reminded me to be kind.

In a world surrounded by technology and individualism, we can learn to stop and reach out. Be the person who makes those connections. Include the loners, compliment a stranger, or even just smile at someone you don't know. We'll never know what or who the one thing that can cause someone to change their mind.

In all of the talks about gun control and policy, the walk out reminded me and hopefully others that there's a reason for all of the madness and the outcry, 10 pages of them.