Claire Davis's last spoken words were to the person who shot her. "Oh my gosh Karl, what are you doing?"
Claire tried to shine her light into the darkness that had overtaken Karl’s life. That was her gambit, armed only with kindness and concern, she tried to start a conversation with this troubled young man.
I have never before mentioned the name of a school shooter before and Claire's parents call to action for all of us is to not sweep his name under the carpet. Karl has parent's and a sister. "Karl is gone now and it is not our responsibility to judge him."~Mike Davis.
Mike went on to share that he had forgiven Karl. I was stunned by the courage he showed to be able to say his name.
The minister, challenged all of the Claire's classmates to find the other Karl's in their school. That is the challenge for all of us. Find the Karl's in our community, reach out, connect. "I won't give up on you."
This was a new perspective on school shootings that I never considered before. I have steadfastly refused to write their names, banishing them to obscurity.
Missy Franklin spoke at Claire's service today. She is proud to call herself a Coloradoan. She grew up 5 miles from Arapahoe High School. Kudo's to Missy for being a role model, for caring about Claire, for her classmates, for her community.
Colorado leads the nation in school shootings. I love Colorado, I have lived here my entire life and as awful as that statistic is, I hope no other state will overtake us, because that will only mean that the shootings have continued.
Today I launched a website that was built in honor of Claire. Please take the pledge to honor Claire with action. Accept the gambit that she offered armed only with kindness and concern for a classmate.
Go into your community, into your schools and find the Karl's. Shine her light at the Karl's that are lost. Arm yourselves with kindness, compassion and concern like Claire did.
We are Claire's angels now and we are her light.
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| Claire's light |
We found out today that Claire's nickname on her Equestrian riding team is "Fluffy Little Rainbow Child". FLRC(Flerk) as Claire pronounced it.
If you are on Twitter and Facebook and happen to read this post, please post on your timeline, please retweet with the hashtags,
#honorwithaction, #flrc, #ClaireDavis
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| #FLRC |
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