So, let me get this straight – four elementary school teachers, flashing beaming smiles, pose with a noose and their principal reportedly snaps a photo?

I wonder who thought that was a good idea?

Just how insensitive or uncivil (or ignorant or, dare I say, racist) do you have to be to think that is okay?

And, as if taking the photo wasn’t brazen enough, one of them apparently had the audacity to circulate it online.

What is it that these educators didn’t understand about a noose symbolizing racial terrorism? (or were they fully aware and just didn’t care?).

Some parents, who were outraged and disgusted by the actions of the educators, pulled their children from the school.

The teachers in the photo and the principal have been placed on paid leave.

The superintendent was quoted as saying “I am appalled that this incident occurred … I am committed to the (school district’s) values of equity, integrity, and multiculturalism … We will not allow the hurtful actions of a few hold back our district’s pledge to do right by our community.”

While I commend the superintendent for that fine crisis management statement, I understand that the student body at the elementary school (where the suspended educators work) is about two-thirds black and Latino and that the teaching staff does not reflect the population being served. So, I’m thinking some cultural competency measures need to be put into place, as a way of making good on the district’s commitment to “equity, integrity, and multiculturalism” and the promise “to do right by (the) community.”

For me, this is yet another example of the growing number of reports of hate and bias in schools that mainly target black, Latino, Jewish and Muslim students. It is also evidence of the broader climate of incivility and hatred in our nation.

And it is one of the most recent reasons we cannot continue to ignore (or minimize the size of) the elephant in the room – racism.

It might be uncomfortable for some, who don’t want to acknowledge and come to terms with its ugliness. I say to you: until we can ALL feel unthreatened, welcome, and safe in our daily lives, the conversation about racial equity and equality is not over.

To those who are targets of its ugliness, I say to you: don’t grow weary; hold fast to your hope for better days; and continue to be part of the conversation that keeps us on the path toward racial justice.

As for the noose in the photo, let’s call it what it is: a symbol of a repugnant ideology of human hierarchy that denotes domination of one group of people over the other, namely whites over blacks.

What do you think we should call the educators in the photo?

“Easter Sunday bomb blasts kill more than 200 in Sri Lanka”

Not the hopeful message (or headline) I expected to awaken to on Resurrection Sunday.

Easter — the season of hope — and April – the month of hope — is a time when I want to focus on the positive. One of the last things I wanted to hear was: “The worst violence in a decade has struck the heart of a nation – bombers target churches and hotels in Sri Lanka.”

Then I began to pray and search for answers that would bring me to a place of hope, optimism, and promise.

As I reflected, I recognized that I was in that moment – when all seems to be lost, when evil seems to have won, the resurrection happens. When we experience situations of suffering and injustice, we also experience love and hope, typically through other people who awaken us to the risen Lord in our midst.

While there are still more questions than answers, the attacks (in a place that is home to multiple ethnicities and religions, with the Buddhist majority living alongside sizable Hindu, Muslim, and Christian minorities) are a reminder that injustice, hate, and evil can manifest themselves anywhere.

But, so too can love, faith and hope. There is hope in the shared message of unity from leaders and people across the globe. There is hope in the solidarity shown by all Sri Lankans, irrespective of ethnicity and religion. There is hope in the acts of people who have stepped forward to donate blood and provide other aid.

The atrocity in Sri Lanka can serve to awaken us to the need for hope to endure — particularly in times of devastation, suffering, grief, injustice, and fear.

Camden Myers is a reminder that you don’t need to wear a cape or possess a superpower to make the world a better place.

He is an everyday hero who shows us that heroism is not exemplified through perfection, but is actually rooted in human imperfection – that heroes are made by striving to overcome mistakes, failures, and life’s disadvantages and that the key to heroism is a concern for other people in need.

You see, Cam (who suffers from a Traumatic Brain Injury which causes both cognitive and physical delays) became an entrepreneur at the age of nine, creating employment opportunities specifically for people with intellectual and physical disabilities in the Winston-Salem, NC, area.

Since its opening in 2017, Cam’s Coffee Co. has hired about a dozen employees. The thriving business started as a pop-up style coffee stand. Cam’s family set up the stand to help him elevate his self-esteem and to empower him to know “that he is a person of value who adds value to everyone with whom he interacts.”

What a statement!

Say it with me: I am a person of value who adds value to everyone with whom I interact.

Now, every time you see another person, think to yourself (or be bold and say it out loud): You are a person of value who adds value to everyone with whom you interact.

Try it. The world may start to look differently. It just might start looking like a better place.

Remember: Heroism is not exemplified through perfection. As humans, we are naturally imperfect; but we can perform heroic deeds or acts that offer hope for a better world.

Each of us can be an everyday hero by making the world a better place for someone in need.