When
I read about things like this happening to kids at the inauguration and
women's march..
When I read about things like this happening to kids at the inauguration and women's march, it grieves me deeply. This came from a friend of mine, not the web.
Re-posted due to my friend's notifications blowing up...if you want to share...feel free, or copy and paste.
One of these students is the son of one of my "Battle Buddies of 1-12 Club"....I've known him since he was a toddler. The events that surrounded these students' trip to DC are deplorable. I am heart-broken. Mob mentality is NEVER ok...no matter which side of the ridiculous political divide you stand on. We are Americans, we are to stand up for one another....even when we disagree. To march for the rights of Women and then tell these teens they should be raped or killed!!!..WHAT!?!?! Simply not okay. Ever. Anywhere.
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Please, take a few minutes to read this first-hand account of what happened to our kids and chaperones during their trip to DC.
I thank God for his protection and for their chaperones in keeping our kids safe through this march.
(I was not personally involved, but my child was.)
"I wanted to share about my experience as a chaperone for our high school field trip to the inauguration of our 45th President. Many of you have expressed kind thoughts and I’m not ignoring you, I just needed to gather my thoughts before writing something that, once it is out there, I can’t take back. If you are friends with me, you likely saw my husband’s post yesterday. He and I talked and he said there are things he would have probably worded differently, but please understand, he wrote those things while his wife and daughter were seeking refuge in the National Archive building without a cell phone signal. He was powerless to help us and he feared for our safety. Let that sink in. We took a group of 13 kids and two chaperones to see the inauguration and a site seeing DC trip. These kids signed up long before they knew who would be elected President and not all our kids were Trump supporters. They were all excited to witness history. The American history they will tell their kids about one day.
We saw protestors at the inauguration who held signs and mingled among the crowds. Some shouted, some debated, and some were silent. All of them had a right to be there. There was a Nazi sympathizer there that I would have loved to throat punch, but he had a right to be there too. There were thousands of people that did not get in to the inauguration due to protestors blocking security checkpoints. They did not have that right and they were eventually moved by police. However, it kept many, who paid a lot of money to be there, standing on 7th street when President Trump was sworn in.
Saturday morning, we loaded our luggage on the airport shuttle, and we headed off to visit the museums. The kids were discouraged from carrying bags, so many did not. They had Trump hats that they didn’t want crushed in luggage, so they wore them on their heads. One kid had to wear two hats rather than carry them. I explained to them that we might encounter women from the Women’s March and to be polite and not engage as I knew our attire might not sit well with some of them. I also reminded them that these women were moms, sisters, grandmas, and men as well. I personally know a lot of women going to various marches across the company and while we disagree on many issues, I respect them and prayed for their safety.
We visited the Natural History Museum and by the time we stepped out of the museum, the crowd had grown massive. We linked arms and walked toward the Air and Space Museum. We became engulfed in a crowd that was so big we couldn’t move. Let me emphasize. We could not move. Women began to boo and insult the kids. We were grabbed, shoved, and jabbed. Some of the girls were told they should be raped. Told they should die. The kids, including the minorities with us, were called bigots and racists. I told the kids not to let go of hands but people tried to pull their hands apart. The mood was beginning to go from festive to angry. I could feel the tension build and I kept saying “we are high school students on a school tour.” Women perched on fences near the barricades yelled they were going to come down and beat us up. We have the most amazing students in the world. They did exactly as I told them. They looked straight forward. They did not let go of hands. We grouped the kids and paired the boys with girls as well as put our tallest student in the back of the line so he could see the front of the line in the event we were separated. Had we been separated, we would never have found them. I can’t explain the size of the crowds at that march. It is not media bias to say they were large.
It took over an hour to move 10 yards. Had even one kid responded negatively to the verbal assaults, or elbowed people who were grabbing and shoving them, I believe a fight would have ended in a mob and I know without doubt we would have been critically injured or killed. Realizing the incompetence of our tour guide, we rushed the kids into the National Archive building, sat them on the floor in a corner and told the tour guide to figure out how to get us out of there. Security was not like it was the day before and we knew it was becoming volatile for the kids. The buses couldn’t get to us. We tried the metro, but the closest station was closed. Everywhere we went, crowds were pouring in. As we inched our way to an open metro, people were taunting us, flipping us off, and taking pictures of our minors without their consent so they could make fun of them on social media. An older man tried to take a picture while flipping off our kids and I asked him if he had children and if he would like me to do the same to them. I said “I respect your right to protest, please respect our right to stand in this space.” His demeanor changed and he looked shamed and then muttered “sorry,” and walked away.
An older lady tried to pull one of our boys off the escalator. Finally, stuck on a sidewalk pressed against a building, the bus driver walked to us, found us, and brought us to his bus. We spent our last day in DC trying to escape the city. I got on the bus and looked at our kids eyes and realized that we were responsible for bringing them home safely to their parents and we were almost unable to do that. There are issues with the tour company that will be addressed. But I was devastated. I had, just that morning, talked about the history of protests and to be considerate of the women protesting. I then had to tell them that the crowds that treated us that way did not represent the entire march or the women who I know were part of that march.
There were women with strollers. Women who looked like my friends. Women who looked like people I go to church with. But believe me when I tell you, the protestors that treated us like that, look just like them. To know I had fellow West Point sisters in that crowd made me sick to my stomach. I served with them and that might explain why this hurt so bad. They weren’t plants, they weren’t anarchists, they were everyday women. I was angry. I’m still angry. But there were women who walked up and whispered “ya’ll need to get out of here,” “ya’ll are brave,” “sorry that happened.” Understand that I am a former Army officer. You may believe that you would have stood up for us. That you wouldn’t tolerate that. But you would have. I did. I had no choice. I was powerless to stop it and you and I would have been outnumbered. The women that whispered to us, they didn’t stand up to it either. They were afraid to. Our principal is a tough guy and even he knew that in a mob that big, he wouldn’t be able to get us out of there.
We had visited the Holocaust museum on Thursday and I thought “how did people let this happen?” I get it now. It’s called group think and mob mentality. In the passion of the moment, in the heat of your cause, you boo, or you feel angry at something you are strongly opposed to and you forget the humanity of the target of your vitriol. And you gain strength in numbers and you forget who you are and why you are doing what you do. You forget your own humanity. I know people who question the validity of this. We did not take video or pictures because we were holding hands in a chain. We couldn’t move and none of us considered taking pictures when we were praying to make it out without injury. We have 15 eye witness accounts. If that is not good enough for you, you probably don’t want to believe it.
I know there were peaceful marches across the country. I understand that people say “where I was at it was peaceful.” There had to be 500,000 people there, did you see everything that happened? I know I did not. I believe that the state marches were all mostly peaceful. DC was different than the marches at state capitals because it was the day after the inauguration and many people who came for the inauguration were still there. I’m sure there were some idiot antagonists. We were not. When I got home, I cried. This has been an emotional experience on many levels. There are bad people and good people from every political party. You can lump them together if you want. But if you claim they all share the same values, I ask you, “Do you share the same values with people who attack and belittle high school kids?” I don’t have one single friend who I believe would support that behavior. I don’t have a single friend who would support that Nazi sympathizer.
I’m devastated that our kids spent all that money and left DC in tears. I’m angry that women who have children of their own participated in the mob mentality of belittling and threatening our kids because they went to an inauguration and their attire was offensive.
Shame on all of us for allowing politics to come to this. This isn’t about one man, one woman or a political party. How you behave is about you. When you forget your own humanity or the humanity of the person in front of you, you are not loving your neighbor and your message is lost. I don’t care how you voted. It isn’t in whom we voted for, but in whom we believe. I will not engage in political discourse with anyone anymore. Both parties are acting like fools. Please don’t defend these actions. If there is any part of you that thinks it is ok to treat kids the way we were treated, I don’t want you in my life. I will love you from afar. I love my friends no matter whether they cheered on Friday or marched on Saturday. Just be nice to people. Let’s all take a moment to self-reflect. Are the things we are saying and doing truly reflect our hearts? If so, I’m afraid for our country."
When I read about things like this happening to kids at the inauguration and women's march, it grieves me deeply. This came from a friend of mine, not the web.
Re-posted due to my friend's notifications blowing up...if you want to share...feel free, or copy and paste.
One of these students is the son of one of my "Battle Buddies of 1-12 Club"....I've known him since he was a toddler. The events that surrounded these students' trip to DC are deplorable. I am heart-broken. Mob mentality is NEVER ok...no matter which side of the ridiculous political divide you stand on. We are Americans, we are to stand up for one another....even when we disagree. To march for the rights of Women and then tell these teens they should be raped or killed!!!..WHAT!?!?! Simply not okay. Ever. Anywhere.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Please, take a few minutes to read this first-hand account of what happened to our kids and chaperones during their trip to DC.
I thank God for his protection and for their chaperones in keeping our kids safe through this march.
(I was not personally involved, but my child was.)
"I wanted to share about my experience as a chaperone for our high school field trip to the inauguration of our 45th President. Many of you have expressed kind thoughts and I’m not ignoring you, I just needed to gather my thoughts before writing something that, once it is out there, I can’t take back. If you are friends with me, you likely saw my husband’s post yesterday. He and I talked and he said there are things he would have probably worded differently, but please understand, he wrote those things while his wife and daughter were seeking refuge in the National Archive building without a cell phone signal. He was powerless to help us and he feared for our safety. Let that sink in. We took a group of 13 kids and two chaperones to see the inauguration and a site seeing DC trip. These kids signed up long before they knew who would be elected President and not all our kids were Trump supporters. They were all excited to witness history. The American history they will tell their kids about one day.
We saw protestors at the inauguration who held signs and mingled among the crowds. Some shouted, some debated, and some were silent. All of them had a right to be there. There was a Nazi sympathizer there that I would have loved to throat punch, but he had a right to be there too. There were thousands of people that did not get in to the inauguration due to protestors blocking security checkpoints. They did not have that right and they were eventually moved by police. However, it kept many, who paid a lot of money to be there, standing on 7th street when President Trump was sworn in.
Saturday morning, we loaded our luggage on the airport shuttle, and we headed off to visit the museums. The kids were discouraged from carrying bags, so many did not. They had Trump hats that they didn’t want crushed in luggage, so they wore them on their heads. One kid had to wear two hats rather than carry them. I explained to them that we might encounter women from the Women’s March and to be polite and not engage as I knew our attire might not sit well with some of them. I also reminded them that these women were moms, sisters, grandmas, and men as well. I personally know a lot of women going to various marches across the company and while we disagree on many issues, I respect them and prayed for their safety.
We visited the Natural History Museum and by the time we stepped out of the museum, the crowd had grown massive. We linked arms and walked toward the Air and Space Museum. We became engulfed in a crowd that was so big we couldn’t move. Let me emphasize. We could not move. Women began to boo and insult the kids. We were grabbed, shoved, and jabbed. Some of the girls were told they should be raped. Told they should die. The kids, including the minorities with us, were called bigots and racists. I told the kids not to let go of hands but people tried to pull their hands apart. The mood was beginning to go from festive to angry. I could feel the tension build and I kept saying “we are high school students on a school tour.” Women perched on fences near the barricades yelled they were going to come down and beat us up. We have the most amazing students in the world. They did exactly as I told them. They looked straight forward. They did not let go of hands. We grouped the kids and paired the boys with girls as well as put our tallest student in the back of the line so he could see the front of the line in the event we were separated. Had we been separated, we would never have found them. I can’t explain the size of the crowds at that march. It is not media bias to say they were large.
It took over an hour to move 10 yards. Had even one kid responded negatively to the verbal assaults, or elbowed people who were grabbing and shoving them, I believe a fight would have ended in a mob and I know without doubt we would have been critically injured or killed. Realizing the incompetence of our tour guide, we rushed the kids into the National Archive building, sat them on the floor in a corner and told the tour guide to figure out how to get us out of there. Security was not like it was the day before and we knew it was becoming volatile for the kids. The buses couldn’t get to us. We tried the metro, but the closest station was closed. Everywhere we went, crowds were pouring in. As we inched our way to an open metro, people were taunting us, flipping us off, and taking pictures of our minors without their consent so they could make fun of them on social media. An older man tried to take a picture while flipping off our kids and I asked him if he had children and if he would like me to do the same to them. I said “I respect your right to protest, please respect our right to stand in this space.” His demeanor changed and he looked shamed and then muttered “sorry,” and walked away.
An older lady tried to pull one of our boys off the escalator. Finally, stuck on a sidewalk pressed against a building, the bus driver walked to us, found us, and brought us to his bus. We spent our last day in DC trying to escape the city. I got on the bus and looked at our kids eyes and realized that we were responsible for bringing them home safely to their parents and we were almost unable to do that. There are issues with the tour company that will be addressed. But I was devastated. I had, just that morning, talked about the history of protests and to be considerate of the women protesting. I then had to tell them that the crowds that treated us that way did not represent the entire march or the women who I know were part of that march.
There were women with strollers. Women who looked like my friends. Women who looked like people I go to church with. But believe me when I tell you, the protestors that treated us like that, look just like them. To know I had fellow West Point sisters in that crowd made me sick to my stomach. I served with them and that might explain why this hurt so bad. They weren’t plants, they weren’t anarchists, they were everyday women. I was angry. I’m still angry. But there were women who walked up and whispered “ya’ll need to get out of here,” “ya’ll are brave,” “sorry that happened.” Understand that I am a former Army officer. You may believe that you would have stood up for us. That you wouldn’t tolerate that. But you would have. I did. I had no choice. I was powerless to stop it and you and I would have been outnumbered. The women that whispered to us, they didn’t stand up to it either. They were afraid to. Our principal is a tough guy and even he knew that in a mob that big, he wouldn’t be able to get us out of there.
We had visited the Holocaust museum on Thursday and I thought “how did people let this happen?” I get it now. It’s called group think and mob mentality. In the passion of the moment, in the heat of your cause, you boo, or you feel angry at something you are strongly opposed to and you forget the humanity of the target of your vitriol. And you gain strength in numbers and you forget who you are and why you are doing what you do. You forget your own humanity. I know people who question the validity of this. We did not take video or pictures because we were holding hands in a chain. We couldn’t move and none of us considered taking pictures when we were praying to make it out without injury. We have 15 eye witness accounts. If that is not good enough for you, you probably don’t want to believe it.
I know there were peaceful marches across the country. I understand that people say “where I was at it was peaceful.” There had to be 500,000 people there, did you see everything that happened? I know I did not. I believe that the state marches were all mostly peaceful. DC was different than the marches at state capitals because it was the day after the inauguration and many people who came for the inauguration were still there. I’m sure there were some idiot antagonists. We were not. When I got home, I cried. This has been an emotional experience on many levels. There are bad people and good people from every political party. You can lump them together if you want. But if you claim they all share the same values, I ask you, “Do you share the same values with people who attack and belittle high school kids?” I don’t have one single friend who I believe would support that behavior. I don’t have a single friend who would support that Nazi sympathizer.
I’m devastated that our kids spent all that money and left DC in tears. I’m angry that women who have children of their own participated in the mob mentality of belittling and threatening our kids because they went to an inauguration and their attire was offensive.
Shame on all of us for allowing politics to come to this. This isn’t about one man, one woman or a political party. How you behave is about you. When you forget your own humanity or the humanity of the person in front of you, you are not loving your neighbor and your message is lost. I don’t care how you voted. It isn’t in whom we voted for, but in whom we believe. I will not engage in political discourse with anyone anymore. Both parties are acting like fools. Please don’t defend these actions. If there is any part of you that thinks it is ok to treat kids the way we were treated, I don’t want you in my life. I will love you from afar. I love my friends no matter whether they cheered on Friday or marched on Saturday. Just be nice to people. Let’s all take a moment to self-reflect. Are the things we are saying and doing truly reflect our hearts? If so, I’m afraid for our country."
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