Photo Essay march in Washington, D.C. Photo Essay march in Parkland, Fla.

Times have changed for protest. When I was in junior high, I was not marching around the White House against the war in Vietnam. The truth is, I was walking upstream of a group of maybe 100 college-age, mostly male students who were carrying white signs in black type that all came from a printer and said the same thing.

The expertise of today’s wave of student activists—from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School students and elsewhere—has surpassed the older generation in just about every way imaginable. That evolution is part of their message: Get out of the way, grandpa. We’ll fix this for you.

The March for Our Lives event on March 24 in Washington, D.C., was an amazing achievement for the students. To gather the forces and crowd they did in under two months was a testimony to their dedication to create something important and meaningful. Once again, the students showed that their communication skills, combined with the wisdom that comes from being sharpened by tragedy, are remarkable.

Sadly, school shootings have become a multigenerational experience that cuts across racial, economic and geographic divisions. For our on-the-ground coverage, we focused on the raw, rapturous spirit in the street. One question we asked that did not make the final cut: How do you sustain a movement that is moving so fast?

The only consensus: Stay organized, and keep moving.

Relieve the March for Our Lives day with Truthdig’s live blog, and view exclusive photo essays of the , and the .

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