Over the winter holiday, I saw Mary Poppins Returns. Though not as charming and original as the prequel, the same underlying message rings true. Adults tend to close off their minds as they grow older. Children, on the other hand, lack the cynicism that too often comes with adulthood. It is a power that cannot be underestimated or ignored. “You’ve forgotten what it’s like. To be a child.” One of the final lines in the movie is a perfect representation of the movie’s central message: it is OK to believe in something.
Often, children focus this power into figures like Santa, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, and Mary Poppins among others. This helps direct their minds to something less abstract. It is something the Banks children do to escape into Mary Poppins’ world of brightly colored flowers and singing animals. In both Mary Poppins movies, the adults lose their sense of the fantastical. But the children always believe. They are the physical manifestation of a childlike naïveté through which, to quote Emily Blunt’s Mary Poppins, “everything is possible, even the impossible.” So, let Santa be real. At least, let he and what other spirits of our childhoods represent be real.
Look at the Parkland students. Forced to grow up too soon, they get it. Unable to wait and sail through childhood. They threw themselves behind as worthy a cause as any and grounded their message. They see their youth as the way forward and I find it hard to argue with them. Many even took a gap year in between high school and college to tour the country as activists because they knew how important their work still is.
A few weeks ago, Louis C.K. attempted a hostile return to comedy, performing a set where he ridiculed the Parkland students and what they stand for. Much could be written about why he does or why he doesn’t deserve a chance at redemption, but that is a different argument. I understand how those untouched by scandal within in his profession feel emboldened to push the limits of what is acceptable to say and that they sometimes cross that line. Louis C.K. is no exception.
Especially on Twitter, we are accustomed to vitriolic hostility. No one can escape it. The backlash and minimal support for C.K. was no different. The Left thoroughly castigated him while the Right cited the First Amendment in defense of his comedy routine. Some of those who refused to weigh into the debate are the targets of C.K.’s attempted return to comedy. Cameron Kasky and Ryan Deitsch, two prominent faces of the March for Our Lives organization, expressed their displeasure but nothing more. Some responded with a little more fire but no less measured. Either way, true to form, the Parkland students stayed on message by refusing to give an inch to those that spit in their faces. They know that to give people like C.K. a larger platform is to denigrate the very soul of what they are trying to accomplish.
This is how the Parkland students separate themselves and elevate their effectiveness and how they remain relevant. Some people who are much older than the students have thinner skins than the Parkland students. Instead of caving to derision, they stand defiant. This gives me hope. Students younger than myself knowing that activism matters because it addresses issues that affect all of us.
Our social and political climate has made it near impossible to plead ignorance. It can be overwhelming and it can make every fiber of your being scream to break free, but we all hear what is happening. The stakes are too high. We have leaders afraid of their own shadows and simply calling their offices is now insufficient. This stuff matters too much for apathy to be an option. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, whatever cause you may fight for, it does not matter. Take to the streets and march. Go to the polls and vote. If you’re waiting for permission to care, stop waiting. Enough is enough. It’s time we take back our country, one step at a time. •
