17 for 17 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School

Over a year since I have posted.  And today I am compelled.  I often think to blog life, what God is teaching me, and processing my thinking around life, but don't.  Today I do.  It is so appropriate that my teenage daughter is the driving force that prompted my own seventeen minutes of silence to express whatever it is that I'm trying to express.  As an educator for over 20 years, I spent time today reflecting on the beauty that each child brings into this world, even the children that drove me nuts or pushed my buttons over the years.  I watch snap-chats of students at my daughter's high school as they stand silent in honor of the 17 that were senseless victims in Florida.  I know that no words that display on this page could express my heart for the families that lost their beautiful, intelligent, funny, incredible human beings in yet another event that should never have taken place.  My heart for the families that lost the adults - that died trying to save children's lives.  It.  Is. BROKEN.  I sit and weep at the knowledge of such an event.  Such a tragedy.  ANOTHER tragedy.  I know there is evil in this world, and the only thing that can stop that is light.  I wish that there was something that I could do...something I could say...something the populous could stand together on that would create change in this capitalistic self-serving society we have in this great country that continues to shuck the responsibility of taking care of each other - and in particular our children.  I do not yet know what that is, but I hope that I see that change in my lifetime.  For the staff and students in Florida, and every other state that has experiences the horror - I pray that somehow God would bring peace to your spirit, your life, your future.  I look at the beauty of these children, these adults that have disappeared from our lives, and I weep again.  I see the faces of former students, the staff members I have had the good fortune to work alongside in the past - the ones I KNOW would have ran to the sound of a gun firing to see what they could do to save lives; the ones like in Florida that would get students to safety and die trying; the ones that would stand in front of students and take a bullet so that they may live.  Our country, and in particular the great state of Michigan where I now live, truly needs to wake up to the fact that public education is the key to every great thing that happens in our society.  I am embarrassed and horrified that the Secretary of Education for our great country, Betsy DeVos, literally can't even answer simple questions about the current state of education in Michigan where she resides, and has not a clue about the needs in public education today.  This is the human being that is allegedly leading education in this country, and now is to somehow lead a task force on guns in schools.  If you are not frightened about these facts, I apologize in advance for saying shame on you.  When will our country swing the pendulum back to funding public education appropriately so that educators have what they need to help each child not only pass a test, but become contributing members of a society that is committed to doing whatever it takes to grow and support not only academics but character traits that value others so much that what happened in Florida and across this nation never happen again?  As I told my daughter today when she inspired me to put others first in my day, and set my needs aside to spend time looking at photos of the victims in Florida and read about their story - who they were - and praying for the families, friends, and community I wish I could heal - children can teach us about life.  They have eyes to see the value of others in this world, and unite with their peers across the country to express their love, their care and concern, and their connection to those they have never met, and do something to honor those human beings.  We should be taking 17 for 17 each day.  I hope the families and friends in Florida sense the love and concern that many in this country have for them.  That peace may wash over their hearts and minds as they battle to live their new lives with an empty space that will never go away.  

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