They are just kids. They should be spending the summer lolling on beaches, dallying with summer romances, and catching up on leisure reading. They should be complaining to parents about curfews and putting in hours at summer jobs and camps that prepare them for the future.marchforourlives.com/tour/, there is still time to do so.

Instead, survivors of the Valentine's Day shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., where 14 of their peers and three educators were murdered, have spent two months of this summer traveling aboard a bus, bringing their message of a need for improved gun laws and the importance of voting, to 50 cities in 60 days.

Just one month after the Parkland tragedy, youth were marching for their lives in Washington, DC, encouraging young people in cities across the nation to do the same.

Now they are on the Road To Change, and their bus rolls into Newtown this Sunday, August 12. From 2 to 6 pm, the public is invited to hear them voice their concerns and participate in a rally at Fairfield Hills that is more than words: it is about action - action in the form of voter registration. They realize the immense power great numbers of like-minded young people can have - youth who are at the legal age to cast votes. These young people have wisely seen that while the Road To Change is many miles, there is a shortcut through the democratic process of electing officials at all levels who can bring about the change they desire.

Rallies give them the opportunity to tell their stories, hear what others around the country are thinking, and convince people of all ages that registering to vote is a route to change.

They march for their lives and the lives of all whom they believe remain in harm's way as long as lax laws and lax implementation of existing laws allow dangerous weapons to end up in the hands of dangerous people. They march for all lives that need to know that change happens incrementally through the proper channels, one of which is the right to vote.

If you have not RSVP'd to the August 12 rally at Fairfield Hills at

These "kids" have learned a lesson that resonates in Newtown, and a lesson that, despite the more than a dozen incidents involving gunfire on school properties that have taken place since February 14, should never again be experienced in this country. These "kids" are asking us to ease that burden, to hear their message, and to support their mission. We owe it to this next generation of voters to hear just how they would like to shake things up.

Listen with an open heart. And if you are not yet registered to vote, whether you agree with their positions or not, take this opportunity to register to vote.

(Incidentally, Republican and Democratic primaries take place in our state on August 14, when registered voters will weigh in on which candidates they believe will best lead the way and implement the changes they wish to see in the upcoming years. Exercising their rights, these voters can also set the state on the Road To Change.)