Thank you.
Any action in love is thanks worthy. Any love in action deserves praise.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Watching the students and staff of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida go through the horrific shooting, my heart was aching. My spirit was suffering, and I needed to rally. I needed to go to the one thing and place that heals and strengthens me. I went to love.
I did not want to have the same discussions and debates. They do not accomplish anything. I needed to act, and I needed to act in love. One of the constants of LovePrints is “action in love, love in action.” I wanted to do something. I needed to do something. What to do? What to do?
“A heart is love. Hands are action. Separately, love without action does not accomplish much, and action without love does not accomplish good at all. Together, they can accomplish anything and everything grand.”
My brain and heart searched collectively for something that would matter. I wanted it to be inclusive. There was a second of fear that no one else would care, but since I choose to chase fear away with love, that did not last long. I decided to send hugs. I decided to send love. I decided to send a reminder to the people of Stoneman Douglas that would say that people care. We care.
We have never met the people of Stoneman Douglas High School, but we know them. We are them. We never let those we care about stand alone. We never let them feel like no one cares. I decided to reach out to my friends to see what they thought. What I found out was amazing.
They cared.
Grand empowering comes from love and unity. Go! Let’s! Yes!
They also understood. They also wanted to send love and hugs. They also wanted to act in love. They decided to love out loud.
I started a GofundMe account to pay for the creation of LovePrints bracelets with the school name on it. There are 3000 students and 500 teachers, staffs, and other. I wanted to send each of them a bracelet. Each bracelet serves as a hug, as love, and as a reminder. They matter. We care. They are loved. We love.
4000 bracelets are on their way to Stoneman Douglas High School. The Principal and his assistants will make sure that each person affiliated with the school receives one. Inside the box is a note that simply says “You are strong. You are loved.”
To every person who donated, thank you. No matter how much, it matters. It is a beautiful statement that no one is alone. It is a powerful thing to act in love. I am in tears typing this because each of you restores my faith that we are the decent and loving souls that we say that we are. We are strong. We are loving. We are good.
Your love is powerful. Your action is strong. Your love in action is a LovePrint that for one day will cover the people of Stoneman Douglas High School in love. You did that. You covered them in love!
Thank you!
We all know the story. What I would like to do is send a LovePrints bracelet to the staff and students of Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. There are approximately 3000 students and 200 teachers and staff. I would like to do this immediately so that the bracelets are there as they head back to school.
LovePrints has the motto Cover the world in love. We can do with Love in Action, and by action in love. This small gesture is an act of love, out loud. A small statement that someone cares about them. A reminder on those tough coming days that when they look down at their wrist, they know that they are not alone.
Let the bracelets be a statement and a symbol that love lives here, wherever the bracelets are.
It takes so very little to do so much. We cannot do everything, but we can do something.
Every single penny of your donation will go to bracelets. I will be sure to let you know how many we sent, and when.
Feel free to share this. No donation is too large or small. Thank you.
https://www.gofundme.com/LovePrintsStonemanDouglas
Derrick Pearson LovePrints www.loveprints.us
168. 24 hours a day. 7 days a week.
We all have the same amount of time to accomplish everything we need to. The 4.0 student and the 2.0 student have the same amount of time. The CEO and their employees all have the same 168. The mom, dad, and child all have the same 168. It is what they do with and in their 168 that determines who they are. It also determines how they got there.
The greatest excuse for not getting things done is "I simply do not have the time." The time is there. Its whats done with your time that matters. Once the priority is determined, directing time to it is easy. Imagine trying to drive somewhere without having the address, it is far more difficult to get there without it. No GPS can help you get anywhere without a destination.
The 168 program has several ways to help you as teachers, parents, students, and coaches. It simplifies the process, makes talking about it easier, and removes the chaos of last minute homework issues, project delays, unfinished assignments, and lack of communication between the student and the adults that love them.
I recently spoke to a team of players, coaches, and parents. I asked them all if they had spent more time together talking to each other about academics or dating. Academics or music. Academics or television. A silence took over the room. What you give time to becomes the priority. What you ignore, fades. The 168 allows the adults to talk to the students in an informed, productive, and positive way.
What do you talk to your students about?
Use your 168 wisely. Make sure that there is room for love.
LovePrints is covering those around us in love. It is making sure that our loved ones can identify love in action, and actions of love. It is the process in which the other thing is identifiable as NOT love. It is time to have a talk parents. It is time to action in love!
When the young people are sent off to high school, and then college, and then life, they should be sent with a covering of love. They should have a clear example of what love looks like, sounds like, and feels like. They should have experienced love at its simplest, and at its deepest. They should have been around love, about love, and for love.
What happens is, some parents get lost in the business of acting in like. They get caught up in attempting to be a best friend, a bro, a girlfriend, instead of the love standard. The standard is often the ability to say what needs to be said, rather than what the young person wants to be said. Sometimes, there is a need for cold hard facts, stone cold truths, and absolute boundary. Sometimes, the young people need to know what is important rather than what is easy. That is love. Caring enough to say what needs to be said. Sometimes, no is the best thing that you can say,
What happens is, a hole in the relationship between parent and young person leads to a vacuum that requires filling. When the vacuum exists, it is natural for a young person to try and fill it. Sometimes, they have been conditioned to fill it with love. In some cases, they are familiar with filling the vacuum with the first thing willing and able to fill it. This is when the LovePrint is needed. It should good friendly. It should make the other thing not stick. If love is not present, the young person will search for something, anything, to fill it. Give them something good. Give them love.
What happens is, a change in the environment is inevitable. It is going to happen. The moment the young person becomes accountable for their time, their energy, their well-being, and their spirit, the sharks in the water surround prepared to attack. To feast on the young one if possible. If the young person is taught to recognize danger, they know how to defend, how to analyze, and how to make a decision that honors the mission rather than the impulse.
What happens is, the young person needs access to you. They need the freedom to tell the truth. They need the freedom to ask questions, and the freedom to not have all of the answers. They need to be able to be wrong, but not limited to it. They need the ability to stand up for good, run away from bad, and the wisdom to know the difference.
What happens is, a price tag has mistakenly been stuck on their self-esteem. The price tag is wrong. The ability to understand and have access to folks like the good that they seek to see and be, different from them, and those in question and with doubt. And, if done properly, the young people will know their value, live within their own boundary, and stand strong in their beliefs.
What I hope is that parents sit down and have some honest discussions with your young people. You need to know what apps are on their phone, what emails and profiles exist, what is being said, and at what level. What I hope is that conversations begin with I love you, and end with I love you. If parents remember the mission, the result is clear, and the path is straighter.
Prepare your young people. Give them answers. Give them skills. Do not send them unprepared into the world. Teach them to add to their community and environment. Demand that they know more than to ask for more. Demand that they are capable of basic life skills, basic adult skills so that they are not a burden to you, your family, or your community. Give them the information required to add to whatever school, team, or club they plan to join. Make them impossible for those clubs to refuse them. Do that!
Do not send your young people into the pool with dirt on them. Teach them to be clean, to be considerate, and to be kind. Teach them to handle the basic needs of a young adult away from home. That is an act in love. That is making them better, their future better, and their possibilities better.
Teach them to balance a checking account. Teach them to save money. Teach them to do laundry. Teach them to manage time. Teach them to wake themselves, bathe themselves, and medicate themselves. Make sure that they can prepare a meal, know how to shop, aware of the price of vital items, and to eat well.
Show them how to be online safely, how to date safely, and how to communicate with strangers about boundaries. Make sure that they know their value, they know their contact information when not stored in a phone, and talk about dating apps on their often not smart phones. Have a secondary contact process in play, have a regular check in day and time, and feel open about asking who they are dating and why.
Teach them to iron clothes, use the dry cleaners, use a vacuum, and clean a bathroom. Make sure that they change the sheets, can write a handwritten note, and can look people in the eye as they talk. Remind them that a phone is often used to actually make a phone call, that books are meant to be read, and that you don’t have to have that last drink. Teach them to travel safely, walk with purpose, and to know who to trust.
Let them know that it is always a good time to call home, no matter the hour, day, or reason. Its is perfectly fine to get an ok from the parents before making that big dating decision, and there is always room for the update about good grades.
Never forget to remind them of who they are, what they want to be, and why they are wherever they are. Keep their eyes on the important prize, and nothing is the end of the world. They will never be too old for a hug, even if its after cheers or tears or fears. The next thing is waiting, the last thing is past, and mom and dad can talk them through anything.
The truth is always more welcome than a lie or an omission. A failed test is just a strong lesson, and we all have the same 168 hours a week to accomplish whatever we are doing.
And finally, Cover them in love. Cheer them, correct them, redirect them, inspire them, example for them, and love them. Out loud. A lot.
Go,
Love.
