Yesterday, I picked Ben up from school and he immediately started talking about the "Walk Out", students walking out for 17 minutes in honor of the 17 students and teachers killed a few weeks ago in Florida. I asked him about it, he didn't have too much to say (normal with him), but then i started thinking about it and finally i said "If you want to, i'll back you up. But i have some problems with it."
So we started talking.
I'm all for the walkout, if it honors the victims of gun violence, but then, what?
What is it going to do? It's not going to get any gun laws passed. It's been tried and tried, it just doesn't seem to get anywhere once it hits washington, does it? We can spend time and money and efforts to get laws passed, but if someone wants desperately to get a gun, they will.
Instead of walking out...how about walking TO?
To the kid sitting by him/herself in the lunch room, no friends to talk to.
To the kid in the classroom that is picked on for being different.
To the kid in gym that isn't as good as others, so is always picked last and then shunned.
To the classmate that hides in their book, trying to make sure no one notices, to avoid being picked on.
To the student who did something in first grade that everyone made fun of, and since then, has never had a true friend, but no one remembers why.
The pupil who doesn't dress in the latest clothes, wears handme downs because the parents are barely making ends meet, so classmates look down on them.
Walking out, do the kids that are hurting get invited? If they walk with classmates, will anyone link arms with them and given the encouraging words and invite them to sit at the lunch table with them?
If they go stand in the gym in honor of the students who died, will anyone stand with them and hand a tissue if they start to cry?
Instead of walking out, walk to.....and try to make school a better place for everyone. Everyone deserves to have a friend. Everyone deserves to feel safe walking in the hallways and not worry about being pushed around and laughed at. No one deserves to be laughed at if they aren't athletic
or can't read as well as others.
So Ben knows my thoughts and i hope he takes my words to heart. There was a time he was the kid sitting all by himself and i would go to school and take lunch with him, because it broke me to know he was alone. I hope he looks around and sees the kids alone and invites them to his table.
I love you.
