1.22.2021

Like many, I was mesmerized by 22-year-old Amanda Gorman and the words she spoke at the Presidential Inauguration on Wednesday. I was transfixed by her poise and confidence as words flowed effortlessly from her mouth. Her presence and her use of language capture our collective grief and hope for our nation. 
 
 
In the last 24 hours, I have been reminded that we don’t know each others’ stories-challenges, losses, hardships. Ms. Gorman has an auditory processing disorder and a speech impediment. In a TV interview, she shared that up until the age of 20 she could not form and pronounce the letter “r.” She went on to say that only a few years ago she would not have been able to effortlessly utter her poem, “The Hill We Climb.” 
 
What hills did Amanda have to climb? I thought of words spoken about and to her as a child and teenager. Who were the people who spoke words of encouragement over her life? Who were the people that spoke words of discouragement over it? Who decided that Amanda was the child they wouldn’t give up on? 
 
Our children struggle, stumble, and err. We want and sometimes try to spare them from difficulties, hurts, and disappointments. Without those “hills” our children will never know what grit, resilience, and perseverance mean. Who they are today, does not determine who they will be tomorrow. 
 
In Peace and Partnership, 
 
Angela 
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Located in College Park, MD, Friends Community School is a progressive Quaker K-8 day school, founded on the belief that every child is a valued member of our community. We offer a challenging curriculum imbued with strong values of equality, integrity, community, environmental stewardship, simplicity and peaceful conflict resolution, rooted in our Quaker heritage.
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5901 Westchester Park Drive
College Park, Maryland 20740
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