On Wednesday night, CNN hosted a gun control town hall during which survivors of the horrific shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, asked lawmakers, law enforcement, and NRA spokesperson Dana Loesch why their friends and family were murdered. Toward the end of the event, Max Schachter, whose 14-year-old son Alex was killed during the shooting, recited a poem that his son wrote before his death.
“Two weeks ago, Alex was assigned a poem for a literary fair. He decided to write about roller coasters because Alex loved roller coasters,” Schachter said. “He wasn’t writing about his life, and had no idea that his poem would become his future.”
The father explained that Alex’s brother also read the moving poem, entitled “Life is like a roller coaster,” at his funeral. “Now I would like to read it to you because it’s amazing, I love it, and I want everyone to hear Alex’s words,” Schachter said.
Here is the full poem:
Life is like a roller coaster
It has some ups and downs
Sometimes you can take it slow or very fast
It maybe hard to breath at times
But you have to push yourself and keep going
Your bar is your safety
It’s like your family and friends
You hold on tight and you don’t let go
But sometimes you might throw your hands up
Because your friends and family will always be with you
Just like that bar keeping you safe at all times
It maybe too much for you at times: the twists, the turns, the upside downs
But you get back up
You keep chugging along
Eventually it comes to a stop
You won’t know when or how
But you will know that’ll be time to get off and start anew
Life is like a roller coaster