WATCH: Anthony Rizzo delivers emotional speech at vigil for shooting victims |
The tragic school shooting that took place at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. on Wednesday afternoon rocked the nation with the terrible death toll at 17 at last count.
This school is very beloved and dear to Chicago Cubs first baseman Anthony Rizzo as it is his alma mater and a place that he donated $150,000 in November to help improve the lights at their baseball fields. Rizzo left Spring Training on Thursday morning to fly down to be with his grieving hometown and to speak at the vigil for the victims of the horrific event. This is what leadership looks like and Rizzo is one of the top humanitarians out there in the sports world.
"I am only who I am because of this community and I just want all you to know how proud I am to be part of this community. I want you to know that you're not alone in your grief," Rizzo said during the vigil for the shooting victims. "We're all grieving with you. The entire country is grieving with you so whatever comfort I can give I will give. Whatever support I can offer to our students, teachers, coaches, families, and first responders you'll have it. I went to Stoneman Douglas. I grew up in Stoneman Douglas. I played on those fields. I went to those classes. I studied in those classrooms the same school we saw in videos yesterday for all the wrong reasons. We see this on TV too often I feel like it's all the time it is there's a cycle to it. We get horrified that this violence is inflicted in our kids. We get angry that there's nothing we can do and nothing's done about it and then we ultimately get immune and move on to something else but then it happens in our own town in your own school or the movie theater or a nightclub or a church and we realize it could happen to us and our safe and tight-knit community of Parkland. In fact there are a lot of communities out there that know exactly what we're going through right now and have to relive these moments again and again look I'm a baseball player but I'm also an American, I'm a Floridian, and I'm a Park Lander for life. Well I don't have all the answers I know that something has to change before this is visited on another community and another community."
