Seventeen Acts of Kindness – March 15, 2018

My thirteen year old great-niece Tessaract Meil led the 17-minute walk-out at Camden- Rockport (ME) Middle School yesterday.  Yes – her name is Tessaract. Her parents named her after the fifth-dimensional bridge between two points in time and space described in “A Wrinkle in Time.” I usually call her “Tessa.”  Lately, I’ve been calling her “amazing.” 

Tessa was one of 50 students at Camden-Rockport (and one of an estimated one million, nationwide!) to participate in the walk-out – to protest gun violence in our country and to demand better legislative measures aimed at reducing the number of mass shootings.  All this is in response to the shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida a month ago.  Seventeen people died in that shooting. 

In addition to signing a letter to US Senator Susan Collins demanding action, Tessa and her classmates pledged to do “seventeen acts of kindness” over the next seventeen days. 

Those seventeen days take us right up to Good Friday – the day we who are Christian remember that God-who-is-Love is greater than evil and sin and violence.

Our US Conference of Catholic Bishops have made it clear that we need a real debate about solutions to gun violence.  One piece of legislation is not going to solve this problem.  But we must start.  Among the actions the USCCB recommends:
+  a total ban on assault weapons
+ measures that control the sale and use of firearms, such as universal background checks for all gun purchases
+ limitation on civilian access to high-capacity weapons and ammunition magazines
+ a federal law to criminalize gun trafficking
+ improved access to mental health care for those who may be prone to violence
+ regulation and limitation on the purchasing of handguns
+ measure that make guns safer, such as locks that prevent children and anyone other than the owner from using the gun without permission and supervision.  See the Bishops’ full statement here.

Writer Kelli Stanley posted her “top five” lessons from “A Wrinkle in Time.”  They are:
1. Love is the most powerful energy/entity in the world.
2. Don’t hide or be ashamed of your uniqueness; be proud of who you are.
3. Conformity is the ultimate bogeyman.
4. Intelligence without empathy or compassion is the ultimate evil.
5. Your faults can be virtues under the right circumstances.

These are all good things to ponder the next seventeen days as we conclude Lent and enter into Holy Week.  One day at a time.