Invitation to AMPlify
By Stephen Bora
As the COVID-19 situation continues to adapt and evolve, it can feel overwhelming. The perpetual news cycle keeps aware of the latest cases, guidelines, and deaths. But at what cost? Sure, we all need to be well-informed so that we can protect ourselves, our families, our communities and this responsibility can be difficult and challenging during a pandemic. We juggle the importance of staying up-to-date with best practices to ensure the safety of our friends and family while also deliberately limiting media intake to preserve our mental wellbeing. In addition to the mortal danger of the pandemic, the situation has also brought complex social issues to the forefront of American awareness- issues such as homelessness, domestic violence, lack of access to healthcare, and socio-economic inequality. While these issues are not new, they are often turned a blind eye while the American economic engine hums. Now, that humming has grown faint and more of us are hearing societal questions that demand answers. As Be Strong Families thought about how to act, we realized that what we do best—develop transformative conversations that nurture the spirit of family, promote wellbeing and prevent violence—could be an important contribution. By doing this, we could allow people to experience the emotional safety needed to share their feelings, gain support from each other, and brainstorm strategies and solutions to keep their families safe and strong.
When we have such space to connect, we develop compassion for and understanding of other peoples’ realities, disrupt stereotypes, and create stronger ties to each other. For the past two years, we have been working to define and refine what we call A More Perfect Union, a multi-faceted approach to honoring the broader context for parenting in a complicated and often unjust world. Our goal is to create a sense of community while embracing love and compassion across differences. To help achieve this goal, we invite you to participate in the #AMPlify social media campaign.
Rather than absorb the negative energy of traditional media outlets, we are amplifying positive energy and especially those things and events and situations and images that bring people together! Please join us in uplifting and sharing what gives you hope that the new normal will be better and brighter than the old normal. Instead of focusing on what you want to silence and squelch, how about deciding what you want to amplify? Please join us in spreading messages of encouragement, joy, peace, unity, overcoming—all across social media. Use the #AMPlify and be sure to tag Be Strong Families.
Here are some examples!
Share your stories and images with us! We would love to AMPlify the great work you are doing to promote unity, justice, and peace.