“Whatever you choose to do, leave tracks. That means don’t do it just for yourself. You will want to leave the world a little better for your having
“Whatever you choose to do, leave tracks. That means don’t do it just for yourself.
You will want to leave the world a little better for your having lived.”
— Ruth Bader Ginsburg
What the world needs now is more people with healthy conflict resolution skills. Investing time and energy into developing these skills in children brings so much hope. -TGJP
Across Philadelphia, nonprofits are building a network of trained conflict mediators. That includes teaching teens to settle their own arguments without picking up a gun.
Presley Barner can walk you through every moment of the night she got jumped. The pounding of her sneakers as she ran down the street, the jerking backward motion as someone grabbed her hoodie. The shock of mace being sprayed into her eyes.
“I couldn’t see nothin’ so I’m just punchin’ any and everything,” she said.
This was three years ago, when Barner was in the 7th grade. She says for a few years before that, she walked around like she owned her part of West Philadelphia.
“I was runnin around fightin’ everybody,” she said. “I was just gettin’ my anger out.”