“It is curious that physical courage should be so common in the world and moral courage so rare.” ~Mark Twain

I have refrained from jumping into political waters for the last little while, if only for the sake of my health, let alone the interest level of my readers.

However, I feel compelled to comment on the survivors of the Parkland shooting, the extraordinary students of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.

I have long admired courage, the willingness to confront positional power in an attempt to reveal truth, particularly as demonstrated through the spoken word.

These “kids”—and I use that term loosely, as many of them exhibit more bravery and honesty than our elected officials—are not going to change the world; they ARE changing the world.

They have run out of patience with thoughts and prayers. From organizing national marches, to CNN Town Hall meetings, to the Florida legislature, these young men and women mean business: they demand gun control.

And 18 year old Emma Gonzalez is their leader, along with David Hogg and Cameron Kasky (all three of whom I follow on twitter), but Emma has emerged as the face of this movement. She has amassed over 1 million Twitter followers in less that two weeks.

Not since Martin Luther King, Jr. has one voice so inspired and mobilized an entire generation. If you have not yet seen her jaw-dropping speech of two weeks ago, just days after the shooting, take a look; this is what raw, unfiltered leadership looks like. Or read her article in Harper’s.

These young men and women are showing us what courageous leadership—something the world is in VERY short supply of these days—looks and sounds like.

Because real leadership ain’t elected, it ain’t bought, it ain’t scripted or trained or accidental.

It is commanded with presence, revealed through words, and exhibited by choices. Courageous choices.

And these kids are reigniting hope in the hearts of my generation—the generation that dropped the NRA ball, the ones that traded integrity for perceived positional power, who valued complacency over courage and materialism over meaning…we’ve left them a messy world.

So I am compelled to say thank you, Emma. And David and Cameron (who totally tore it up on Bill Maher’s HBO show two days ago) and all the students who are showing the rest of the world that when the teaspoons of thoughts and prayers just aren’t enough, a cup of action must be added to the recipe of change.

Topped off by a heaping tablespoon of courage.

Keep cooking, kids.