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#1) If you don’t have the words, it’s OK. Listen to the children of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School. They are on Twitter. They are making speeches. They are on the news. They are standing up, speaking out and taking action.
If you don’t know how to lead the way, let them lead. But support them in any way you can.
Here are some of the kids of #Parkland, the ones who survived, the ones who are speaking out:
#EmmaGonzalez Gives “The speech of a generation” at a press conference”.
sarah // #NEVERAGAIN Working to get assault rifles banned.
David Hogg “Call your congressman today.”
natasha #NeverAgain Donald Trump “stop abusing your power and corruption and take action with Congress for stricter gun laws.”
@dan_pacillo “Keep your condolences Mr. President.”
kyra “We as students are using social media as a platform to have our voices heard. Let it be known that we are and will be in contact with our legislators & politicians. Change is now. & it is starting with the survivors.”
Ari Petition: Students Fighting Guns Since Adults Won’t
carly Please don’t let this die down. We need our voices to continue being heard. We NEED something to change. #neveragain
lucy I just emailed my senator and you should too! Please use this link https://www.govtrack.us/congress/members/current#_ … so what happened to my school never happens again #neveragain
[If you see other Parkland students speaking out, drop their twitter handles in the comments or tweet us @goodmenproject and we will add them to this post.
I’m joining whatever political party those kids in Florida just started
— Rhea Butcher 🇵🇷 (@RheaButcher) February 16, 2018
#2) Remember the 1960’s? Even if you weren’t there, remember the pictures? How things changed—if you were living through it—seemingly overnight? Everything changed—the clothing, the hair styles, the music, the people in the streets. The way people greeted each other, with a symbol of peace. For the longest time—I couldn’t figure out why it had all changed so quickly. I haven’t seen a cultural shift that obvious in my lifetime.
But seeing the kids from #Parkland, I think I understand. It all changed so quickly because the people—mostly youth—demanded change. The protesters of the ’60’s and early ’70’s wanted to look different. They wanted to stand out. They didn’t want to be seen as being a part of an abusive government that would ship them off to war to die.
And here we are in 2018. Let’s stand up and demand the change that will keep people from dying.
#3) The NRA gives money to politicians. Politicians then fail to protect our children from dying. This. Must. Stop. How much money is an innocent child’s life worth? I wrote about how the NRA influences politics here: “When the NRA comes calling.”
#4) Teachers are not soldiers. One thing that I have learned when dealing with catastrophic tragedy is this: If I don’t have the words—look for someone who does. But silence is complicity.
Wow. So apparently some folks out there think the solution to school shootings is to make the teachers carry guns. Speaking as an educator let’s be absolutely clear about one thing: We. Are. Not. Soldiers.
— Rachael K. Jones (@RachaelKJones) February 16, 2018
#5) Until we see these shootings as systemic abuse, we will never be able to stand up to the abusers. And since when do we allow abusers to harm our children in plain site? This thread talks about the power of creating change in the face of tragedy, and why the adults in the room need to immediately and visibly stand up and support the children at #Parkland who are speaking out.
I have a thing to say about growing up after tragedy. When I was a senior in high school, 7 of my classmates were killed & 24 injured. It was an awful day full of fear, confusion, & pain. Press swarmed. News helicopters hovered overhead all day filming footage of the carnage. 1/
— Heather Booth (@boothheather) February 16, 2018
#6) We need to expand our definition of masculinity. Mark Greene, a long time contributing writer and editor at The Good Men Project, has written extensively about men, the man-box, and all of the cultural trappings of masculinity. The two of us were talking and Mark said “How did guns get to be the one inarguable symbol of masculinity? You know, no one ever walked into bar and had someone say, “Hey that AR-15 makes you look like a wimp.”
#7) The way through this is to connect more, not less. To talk more, not less. To fear less, not more. To live and help others live.
At The Good Men Project, we continue to believe that change is possible. That we can co-create a future together. That we can change ourselves as individuals, we can partner with small groups, and we can change the narrative and the societal structures with large groups and other media companies. We can change the culture.
This post is part of a series. Unfortunately.
7 Things I Want to Say About Something I Don’t Have the Words for #ManchesterBombing
7 Things I Want to Say About Something I Don’t Have the Words for #NiceAttack
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Also by Lisa Hickey
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“Here’s the thing about The Good Men Project. We are trying to create big, sweeping, societal changes—–overturn stereotypes, eliminate racism, sexism, homophobia, be a positive force for good for things like education reform and the environment. And we’re also giving individuals the tools they need to make individual change—-with their own relationships, with the way they parent, with their ability to be more conscious, more mindful, and more insightful. For some people, that could get overwhelming. But for those of us here at The Good Men Project, it is not overwhelming. It is simply something we do—–every day. We do it with teamwork, with compassion, with an understanding of systems and how they work, and with shared insights from a diversity of viewpoints.” —– Lisa Hickey, Publisher of The Good Men Project and CEO of Good Men Media Inc.