Here at HuffPost Parents, we feature cute kid notes regularly. The submissions we receive are often funny and heartwarming -- and genuinely wise. And every once in a while, one reaches right out from the inbox and punches us in the gut -- like this essay, written for a class assignment by 8-year-old Coleman Glasser, and sent to us by his grandfather, HuffPost blogger Ira Glasser, former head of the American Civil Liberties Union.
The assignment, which Coleman completed at school, was to write a persuasive piece based on the prompt "If I could change one thing in the world..."
Coleman’s father, David Glasser, heard the piece for the first time at a school "publishing party," where the students each had a chance to read their work. "One [child] wrote about getting rid of pollution, one about getting rid of hamburgers, Coleman's was about assault weapons. I was surprised (and proud I must admit) when he read it. I had no idea," Glasser told HuffPost over e-mail.
"We had spoken with our children about the Sandy Hook shootings at the dinner table, or if it came up on the news, but not extensively and I never even thought of asking him to write about it," he told us, noting that Coleman had been reluctant to go to school on the Monday after the shootings because (in his words) he was "afraid some crazy person [was] going to come in to the school and shoot us."
Coleman hopes the note will reach a wider audience, including policymakers like Mayor Bloomberg and President Obama.
See Coleman's essay here, and read a full transcript below.
If I could change anything in the world it would be no more assault rifles. Except for soldiers. Assault rifles are big guns that fire many bullets very quickly. They can be dangerous if you aren’t safe or you don’t know what you’re doing. Stores shouldn’t be allowed to sell these to regular people. That’s why I think there should be no more assault rifles.
Banning assault rifles is very important to me because then I would be less frightened when I go to school, movie theater and mall. So then I would stop thinking someone’s going to pop up and kill me. Then the world would be a way more Peaceful Place.
Everyone should think banning assault rifles is a good idea because there would be more people in the world. Then people wouldn’t be scared to go out of their house. Then the People would be happy and jolly instead of sad and mournful.
Coleman Glasser
Third Grade