Although the sun was beating strongly on the 750,000 women, children, and men who filled The National Mall on Mother’s Day, May 14, 2000, for the Million Mom March, the breeze kept the crowd cool … that is, on the surface. The hearts of all were passionately warm.

At the center of one of the largest metropolitan areas in the world, families, friends, and neighbors streamed together holding banners and enlarged photos of victims of gun violence; strangers met and shared stories, food, buttons, bumper stickers, signs, and emotions.

While children danced to the music on the second stage, parents listened to the speeches on the main stage from Rosie O’Donnell (spokeswoman for the event), President and Mrs. Clinton (simulcast from the White House), a head physician from a D.C. emergency room, and parents of victims from Columbine, accidental gun violence, and gang warfare.

It was obvious from their attire that many in the crowd were older versions of the flower children who, back in the sixties and seventies, had marched against the war in Vietnam. Many were too young for that but still looked the part in their popular retro bellbottoms and leather sandals. One sign said, "Make friends, not guns." Another said, "We have the right to bear — and keep — children."

Like those earlier protestors, they were out in numbers to protest senseless death.

They were there to protest the powers in Congress who refuse to take seriously the epidemic of violence which is surging like a demon through our next generation, erasing from our midst young faces that despite their diverse ethnic or racial characteristics all speak of innocence and unfilled promise.

These "flower children" were shirking no patriotic duty. There was no dope smoking, hardly even a cigarette to be seen (after all, the children were there). There was no angry shaking of fists. There was no chanting except from the members of the counter-march, who disrupted the quiet on the avenue just a block from the Mall. There was plain irony in the counter-rally’s motorcycle police escort. Did the moms for bearing arms fear confrontation with the moms for non-violence?

Instead, participants of the main rally gathered with their children along the sidewalk and observed the counter-rally with respect. They recognized the truth in some slogans, such as, "Guns can protect women."

The Million Mom protestors were, indeed, stereotypical American parents — hardworking moms and (and grandparents, too) whose signs were as clearly homemade as their children’s school projects, and whose intent was to educate and influence by example.

Still, they won’t be taken seriously by many. Right here in Pennsylvania’s capital, one editorial called the marchers "misguided and hysterical." What was hysterical about the scene? True, the list on the memorial wall created by mayors of several major U.S. cities of thousands who have died as the result of inner city gun violence, reminiscent of the Vietnam Memorial in its appearance and its sobering effect, brought tears to many. But hysteria? Had my colleague from Central PA been present, he would have known, there wasn’t any.

In Washington, there was a serious, warm connection among the diverse — African Americans from inner cities and WASPs from privileged suburbs, farmers from Minnesota and Ph.D.’s from Philadelphia. Connection between my eight and 11-year-old daughters and the New Jersey great-grandma with the "My Little Angels" photo t-shirt standing behind them in line for an ice cream who told us she had "wanted to be a WAC in WWII but wasn’t tall enough," but "certainly didn’t want any more young people to die, especially with no war on." There was a merging of attitudes to promote one point: not the banning of guns, but the making of laws to decrease the dangers in handling those weapons which we as Americans have every right to own.

The March itself is concluded, the t-shirts now mementos (or badges?) tossed on for the morning jog. But there’s no doubt — a movement has begun. Now, the Million Mom Movement for Common-Sense Gun Laws has the nation’s attention, and the moms who fear for their children’s lives have caught the media’s eye, regardless of provincial or paranoid attitudes that inevitably polluted the reporting of this event and will continue to interfere with responsible journalism.

My children will never forget the pride they took in participating in this very democratic process — free speech and the right to protest publicly — to express their own opinions in the matter. All three of them were decked out (by their own choice) in t-shirts and Million Mom pins. They smiled and waved to other children like and unlike them, they were solemn at the sight of victims’ photos. They asked those unanswerable childhood questions, such as, "Why don’t people want safer laws?" All three marveled at the collection of thousands thronging into D.C. on the Metro, just to make a political point.

And that point will still remain the focus of this Movement. Prevent innocent children from needless pain, from needless death. Regardless of how accurate the statistics of either the Million Mom March Movement or the N.R.A., all must agree that the loss of any child’s life at the hands of an irresponsible — or unaware — user of a gun is a tragic loss to us all.

The Movement says, "While we acknowledge that guns may be necessary for hunting, law enforcement, and national security, the proliferation of firearms intended for one purpose only — the killing of another human being — has become untenable." They call for "cooling off" periods, extensive background checks, handgun licensing and registration, safety locks for all handguns, safety standards for guns (just like for every other product sold in America), child-proofing, purchase limits (one handgun per month), no-nonsense enforcement of existing laws, and help from corporate America.

Why not add insurance, too? Guns are certainly as dangerous as cars. And the more dangerous the gun, the less trained the owner, the higher the insurance. After all, the teenager driving a sports car pays more than a forty-year-old driving a station wagon. Make the owners responsible.

Cut through the propaganda and the rhetoric, and here’s what you’re left with: Enforcement of sensible laws to protect our children. What’s remotely un-American — or hysterical — about that?

One Mom from New Jersey said, "This is the best Mother’s Day I’ve ever had." Her friends nodded in agreement. "Sure beats brunch," said one. "Yup," said another. "This is a day to remember."

And we will remember this day of positive movement. Will our legislators?

For information on how to join or support the Million Mom Movement, visit the website at millionmommarch.com.