PARKLAND, Fla. _ Max Schachter smiles. How is that possible after all that he has been through?
It is there as he recites playfully contentious text messages between his son Alex and daughter Avery, who worshipped her brother. They are messages he'd seen only hours earlier, for the first time, after authorities returned the phone Alex had had in his pocket when he was killed at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.
It is there as he describes the confidence Alex revealed in his writing skills after composing a poem for his English class. A poem his father would later read at the 14-year-old's funeral.
Schachter, on Tuesday named to a new state panel investigating the Stoneman Douglas shooting, carries soul-crushing grief with him everywhere he goes, including at a recent interview at the Marriott Coral Springs Hotel, Golf Club and Convention Center.
While the smile may be self-defense against an agonizing foe, it feels less about him and more about you. It is an offer of reassurance to stranger and friend that he has not given in to darkness, that he is moving forward on projects that honor the legacy of his son.
And if there is one thing Alex Schachter is still famous for in the halls of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, it is an infectious smile.
