.fb-like span { overflow:visible !important; width:450px !important; margin-right:-200px; } EM  SPEAKS  From the Editor – POSITIVE CHANGE    As 2021 moves forward, our country struggles to get back to “Normal”.  The word normal has many connotations.  If we have realized nothing, we know that no man or woman’s “normal” is the same.  I am a child of the 60’s.  I experienced assassinations, men going […]" />
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EM SPEAKS FROM THE EDITOR – Positive Change

EM SPEAKS FROM THE EDITOR – Positive Change

EM  SPEAKS 

From the Editor – POSITIVE CHANGE 

 

As 2021 moves forward, our country struggles to get back to “Normal”.  The word normal has many connotations.  If we have realized nothing, we know that no man or woman’s “normal” is the same.  I am a child of the 60’s.  I experienced assassinations, men going to the moon, the release of Mandela and Martin Luther King’s impact on this world.  My children experienced more peaceful times for a while.  Of course, there were some traumatic events such as the explosion of the Space Shuttle and 9/11.  My grandchildren, however, view this world through entirely different eyes. 

In speaking with my daughters, our conversation on this subject was enlightening.  We have children that experienced the 2008 election of the first African-American President.  Some of them also actively followed the 2016 election and questioned its outcome and the impact it would have on their schoolmates who came to this country from all over the world.  Our young men and women saw first-hand, racial injustice and, having friends of all colors and from all backgrounds, struggled to process why they were treated differently.  Some of our children, old enough to actively participate, donated to causes and got involved in trying to make a difference in a country whose government they would one day be working and raising their families in.  We have children in our family who have never been to public school and continue to take their courses online, never been to a theme park or a museum and as we try to get back to normal, experience everything through new eyes. One of our boys has lived in a foreign country for eight years of his young life and returned to this country in the midst of all these storms, experiencing limited freedoms because of the pandemic. 

So what is “Getting Back to Normal?”   I would hope that it means that each of us look back at the events that have occurred and the impacts on not only ourselves but our children, our friends and others who call this country home.  I would hope that we not only clearly see that it is important to move forward, but it is of equal importance not to forget what has transpired and to realize that these battles that we fight are not over.  What we have experienced serves as a warning to us all to not be lulled into complacency by the word “Normal”, because if nothing else, our eyes have been opened.  We must continue to work toward changing the worse in us to become the best we can be and this can only happen if we do not close our eyes to the truth and get down to the business of changing our world, on all levels; from climate change to justice for all. This should be the “Normal” we strive for. 

Ealon

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