If you happen to have any little activists in the making, consider sharing this song with them. I wrote it last Tuesday as part of a song-writing project, having no idea how relevant the theme (“it’s time for the kids to lead the way”) would be to what is happening with the Florida kids right now. On a wider level, it’s for all our youth, who are trying to figure out how to grow up into a world gone mad, into a world of uncertainty and violence and chaos, into a world where the urgent need for both compassion and activism couldn’t be more obvious.

As I write this, 100 students from Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School are beginning a two-day, 400-mile bus trip to the Capitol in Tallahassee to demand action from lawmakers on gun control. In Washington, D.C., dozens of students laid down in front of the White House for three minutes yesterday in a protest symbolizing how it only took the white former student, 19-year-old Nikolas Cruz, three minutes to kill 17 people with his AR-15. And, of course, there’s Emma Gonzales’ mind-blowing, heart-opening, fire-filled speech, and the articulate, rational, compassionate dialogue readily available for viewing all over the internet right now by and between teens on this issue.

We must prepare ourselves to allow the voices and hearts and actions of our youth teach us, and to collaborate with them without unhealthy traditional power dynamics in place. For some time, I’ve watched our youth speak out in unique and profound ways (suing the federal government for climate change, placing themselves at the forefront of the vegan movement, etc.) "Kids these days", I'm noticing in my work and my parenting, are uncannily articulate, informed, compassionate, wise, intuitive, open-minded and selfless. There's less ego and greed and more mindfulness and awareness, flying in the face of expectation. As far as I’m concerned, we’ve always expected far too little from these wise and capable beings, and it seems that form of ageism is being challenged along with so many other “isms” these days, so YAY!

It brings me great relief and hope to know they're the next wave (this is alongside the grief and sadness and remorse I have over how seriously we've messed things up for them, of course). So to all you children, teens, young adults out there: we’re sorry, thank you, and we WILL follow you, in solidarity with your awesomeness and light!

~ Charity, Tuesday 2/20/2018