Dear Parents,
I am writing this message in the early hours after a restless sleep following the US election. I am up early because I had to drive my 17-year-old son to school early to catch a bus to attend a Model UN conference in Montreal for the next five days. I have seen him work tirelessly on his position paper over the last two weeks immersing himself in papers, articles, and statistics tied to political decisions. We have had many family discussions over the last year about the election and the plethora of news-worthy issues. We have tried to instil that news-worthy shouldn’t be note-worthy, that doing the right thing is the right thing to do, and the power of voice (in this case the power of a vote).
The ride this morning was silent. My son is never silent (he comes by it honestly). We had no words. As he exited the car, however, he said, “Mom as excited as I have been to present at this conference and involved in Model UN there is nothing in my lifetime that could make me more discouraged about politics than what I saw last night.” There are lots of things I wish I had said to him. All I said was, “Never underestimate the power of your voice. Trump was underestimated and here we are. Use your voice – speak passionately and thoughtfully, even to those who disagree. Hold yourself to a higher standard. Love you!” There is so much more that I could have said, but thankfully I have five days before his return to gather my thoughts.
What I will share with your children this morning on the announcements is, “The path to progress isn’t a straight line. Remember, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. Always be loving, hopeful and optimistic.”
Something I am reminding myself of today.
Tracey O’Toole