I was raised in a household with the news on. As a child, I heard numbers and words I didn’t fully comprehend, but I could feel the reactions of my family and infer the rest. Bad things happened, and they happened a lot.
My Nana was a victim in multiple armed robberies and muggings, I was a victim of child sexual abuse, my schools playground was destroyed by a man with a hammer. I used to sleep with my head tucked under my blankets, childishly hoping that they could protect me from would-be intruders and assailants. I was six years old.
Many young adults today have no memory of a world before 9/11. We have grown up in a world where extreme security measures such as metal detectors at airports, and SWAT teams at stadiums are commonplace.
We have been taught, implicitly and explicitly our whole lives to avoid an ever-present threat of attack. Is it any wonder then that we have anxiety?
This is before we delve into the subject of deadly mass shootings. Students & young adults today live with events such as Sandy Hook (2012), Pulse (2012), and Las Vegas (2017), fresh in our minds while we go about our lives.
The more inflammatory parts of the internet may make school shooter jokes, but beneath the humour is the very real fear of becoming a victim. It is simply harder to identify gallows humour when an entire country is at the gallows.
Adding further fuel to this proverbial fire, is the upwards trend in hate-fuelled attacks on those of racialized peoples, LGBTQIA+ community members, and members of minority religious groups. Increased transparency about the rates of sexual assault on college and university campuses, alongside awareness and precautions, has created an air of anxiety for at-risk students.
We have been faced our whole lives with the inhumanity people are capable of, and taught to expect it from anyone and everyone. We teach “stranger danger” while ignoring the abuse that goes on in our homes, creating a world where nowhere and no-one is safe.
Is it any wonder then that amidst the decay of small towns and local communities, we are forgetting how to build meaningful connections?
Interpersonal relationships and meaningful connections are strongly tied to feelings of resilience and well-being. We are in an era where in-person relationships have become further strained following the social incarceration of the ongoing pandemic. As a result, mental health is declining, communities are shrinking, and the most vulnerable are being left behind.
Now more than ever, we must relearn how to be in true community with each other. How to encourage one another to thrive, without worrying about what impacts their success may have on our own. We must connect with each other meaningfully, intentionally, and wholeheartedly.
We must build bonds that we can rely on in dire times, and in bountiful ones.
This is the work that Sprout Together seeks to achieve. To create a foundation of knowledge from which we can build a thriving community. One based in empathy and compassion for each other.
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