The Passion Of St. Emma

     As William Shakespeare said,  "Some are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them."
       In the case of Emma Gonzalez, born the daughter of a Cuban immigrant,  at least two out of the three apply, and that isn't bad for an 18-year-old girl who has become the standard-bearer for a  newly-energized American movement.  

     Like a  21st Century Joan of Arc, locks shorn and  gender irrelevant, Emma   leads her  stalwart young troops in the war against gun violence in America,

...her sword and shield the power of her words,

...the power of her silence,

...and her fearless eloquence in taking on wealthy and powerful interests, her strength against her money-bloated  adversaries being of the strength of ten because her heart is pure.

                                                                                                    NRA Lobbyist Dana Loesh  

       Who knows if Emma, one day an ordinary high school student from Florida and the next the  leader of a movement of millions, wrestled with any angels before she heeded the call, perhaps from above, perhaps from her own heart, to save her country from a plague of gun violence that ravages 318 lives a day, 46 of them children and teenagers. Who knows what changes took place inside her on the sunny afternoon when the plague suddenly, unexpectedly, attacked her suburban school and in the space of  six  minutes and twenty seconds took the lives of 17 while she, a survivor, huddled with her schoolmates in bewilderment and fear.
     Maybe afterwards there was no more time for fear, no time for hesitation or indecision, maybe Emma and her young cohorts were too quickly propelled into action by the trauma of the surreal horror they’d been plunged into, the true surreality of which being that it has become so commonplace a horror in this country.
     Now Emma Gonzalez is leading a battle against the behemoth Empire of the National Rifle Association with its war treasury of billions, its massive support by the American government, and its foot soldiers in the millions.   

     Though she be but little, she is fierce. 

References:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/25/us/emma-gonzalez-what-you-need-to-know-trnd/index.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+rss%2Fcnn_topstories+%28RSS%3A+CNN+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Yahoo+Search+Results

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2018/02/21/fl_shooting_survivor_emma_gonzalez_vs_nras_dana_loesch_we_will_support_your_kids_in_a_way_you_will_not.html

https://www.history.com/topics/saint-joan-of-arc

http://www.bradycampaign.org/key-gun-violence-statistics