Within the past two weeks, there have been two mass shootings killing multiple people in our society. It is important that we recognize the systems that continue to perpetuate mass violence in our country and hold our elected officials accountable. The necessity of this recognition is so that we shift the blame from being entirely on one individual and stay motivated to demand change in policies to prioritizing life over greed. Amanda Gorman tweeted, “It takes a monster to kill children. But to watch monsters kill children again and again and do nothing isn’t just insanity - it’s inhumanity.”
While today marks two years ago that we watched the murder of George Floyd, last week, we grieved the slaying of Aaron Salter, Ruth Whitfield, Pearl Young, Celestine Chaney, Roberta Drury, Heyward Patterson, Margus Morrison, Andre Mackneil, Geraldine Talley, and Katherine Massey. All of these people were murdered because of racism, hatred, and fear perpetuated by our systems and society. This morning, I drove past my local elementary school where a father in the armed forces stood guard in front of his child’s school. What country do we live in where Black people should fear the grocery store? What country do we live in where a person has volunteered his life to protect his country, yet he (and we) cannot protect his own child at school without him standing post?
In remembering the stress that we are all feeling, we must continue to practice empathy with each other. Those appearing strong might not feel it internally. In our most recent podcast, we discussed empathy and mental health. As we see a nation of individuals struggling, we are challenging ourselves to be patient with emotions, hold space for children processing that this world is their normal, and be understanding of parents living in a bizarre world where they carry rational terror at sending their children to school.
Below are the journal prompts we intended for our empathy podcast.
1. Why do you think that empathy is important?
2. Why do you think it is important to discuss mental health issues?
3. What role do you think empathy plays in our culture?
4. What empathetic act can you do for someone today? (Do it!)
5. What would happen if society did more to support mental health awareness?
Cindi & Rachelle
It won’t always be easy. We must take care of ourselves so that we can take care of others.
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