This weekend the city that Teachstone calls home was taken over by hatred. Some of us witnessed the violence first hand. Others watched from afar through social media and television willing that our friends and coworkers would be safe.
Thank you to everyone who has reached out with thoughts of support and prayers. All members of our Charlottesville team are physically safe. Emotionally, we are all struggling to understand how this could happen in our city, our state, and our country. The images that you saw on television are not the images of the city that we know and love.
It is hard to know what to say to add to the eloquent words of many reflecting on the past few days in our beloved home.
At the core of the solution is developing true and real relationships among people of all races, ethnicities, religions, and backgrounds. Until we really know another, its easy to cast them off as an "other."
The relationships we form early in life are foundational to who we become as adults. Every morning young children across this country walk into classrooms with people who are very different than themselves. With the right support, the interactions that they have in those classrooms can help them understand that we are all one people, that compassion for others makes us all better, and that we can get through even the most challenging of times, together.
As Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe said yesterday, "[This] is a time for healing. It is a time for reconciliation. It is a time for leadership….I see a future that is brighter. I see a future where every single child—no matter where you were born or how you were born or who you love—has the same opportunities as everybody else in our great society."
It is not easy. But we thank each and every educator around the country who sees it as his or her responsibility to help children truly know and understand each other. It is what gives us hope, even in the darkest times. And it is something that we will re-invest ourselves in to make sure that we are all doing our part.
Life is too short for so much hate.
—Your Teachstone Family