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<\/a><\/p>\nMy daughter saw her favourite singer\/songwriter Taylor Swift in concert over the weekend, and wanted to show support for Taylor\u2019s latest \u2018Reputation Tour<\/a>\u2018 symbolized by a snake.<\/p>\n Why a snake I asked?<\/p>\n Apparently a few years ago, a certain Kim called Taylor a snake on social media and it caught on the way a match catches fire in a dry forest. A simple name can destroy you.. or save you. Because a name makes it personal.\u00a0<\/em>And that\u2019s why you can\u2019t ignore the importance of naming.<\/p>\n The more popular you are, the more people to judge, and hate on you. It reached a point where Taylor wasn\u2019t sure she wanted to continue her music.<\/p>\n But with her creative genius, she turned this nasty judgment around to create her latest form of \u201canti-bullying\u201d message. What better way to stand up to attack, then to embrace what she knows is simply not true about her?<\/p>\n With \u201cShake It Off\u201d reaching 2.6 billion views \u2013 \u00a0it seems there\u2019s a universal need to shake off other people\u2019s judgment.<\/p>\n Years earlier, her song \u201cOurs\u201d echoed the same theme:<\/p>\n \u201cSeems like there\u2019s always someone who disapproves,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n They\u2019ll judge it like they know about me and you..<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n So don\u2019t you worry you\u2019re pretty little mind,\u00a0<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n People throw rocks at things that shine.\u201d<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n It\u2019s hard to understand that sometimes the more successful you become, the more you can be despised.<\/p>\n At my daughters\u2019 school as their grade 11 year was ending, the new principal of their Arts high school was attacked as a \u201cracist profiler\u201d in our National media.<\/p>\n In response to the school board\u2019s proposal to cut back on specialty education noting findings of a lack of diversity, she attempted to compile a list of black students she shared at a teacher\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n Her intention was to explore whether opportunity gaps existed at their school.<\/p>\n During the meeting discussion, she withdrew her approach realizing it was flawed, but several months later this single \u201cmistake\u201d offended a few teachers, and was leaked to students \u2013 then to the media.<\/p>\n When indignation shows up, anger is really judgment in disguise.<\/span><\/p>\n Suddenly she\u2019s named, and now viewed as a racist after a long career devoted to students that included winning a National Principal award for her efforts assisting minority students improve their academic performance.<\/p>\n A parent has filed a human rights violation.<\/p>\n She felt there was no other choice, but to resign.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Her commitment to student education was destroyed with one name: racist. A judgmental thought in someone\u2019s head that\u2019s contagious without even questioning her prior history.<\/p>\n What I personally witnessed her first year:<\/span><\/p>\n I wondered when this woman slept!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n My daughter met with her personally on several occasions to discuss initiatives, and always found her encouraging. How could I explain to my daughter how someone so committed to helping students could be so easily condemned?<\/p>\n I reminded her it\u2019s the same way Taylor gets attacked in the media.<\/p>\n Judgment becomes\u201dI am right, and you are whatever derogatory name I decide on.\u201d Leaders with this attacking lens become dangerous.<\/p>\n It\u2019s very different from \u201cplease help me understand why you decided to choose that approach\u201d. \u00a0Then LISTEN. The majority of us do not wake up in the morning with intentions to hurt other people.<\/p>\n People would rather be right than be compassionate.<\/span><\/p>\n For so long I couldn\u2019t understand WHY we still have war, violence, and unspeakable injustice. How has our collective consciousness not matured spiritually, and evolved to a higher place? I\u2019ve been on this quest..<\/p>\n I want to help create a judgment-free world. It\u2019s not easy\u2026<\/p>\n When I looked up the snake necklace to<\/span><\/span>\u00a0<\/span>order on-line, I was startled to see this:<\/p>\n I\u2019d been meaning to<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>watch this movie again with my children before they disappeared off to University. \u00a0They were too young at ages 5 and 6 to appreciate the deeper meanings in this fantasy tale:<\/p>\n \u201cThe Nothing is spreading,\u201d <\/em>groaned the first.<\/span><\/p>\nThe Backstory<\/h4>\n
<\/a><\/p>\nIt Happened Close to Home..<\/h4>\n
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What is going on?<\/h4>\n
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