Take Each Tear and Grow Together
Lilies of the valley are one of my favorite flowers. They are bell shaped and have a sweet scent. Folklore tells us that lilies of the valley represent where the tears and blood of those who came before us have been shed, and where new life begins to grow.
In our country, we are crying tears for the blood that has been shed from George Floyd, Ahmaud Arbery, and Breonna Taylor as a result of systemic anti-Black racism and violence. Like lilies of the valley, we must symbolically take each tear and grow together. We must continue to do our part to break down these systems of oppression so that we can create a more just and equitable world. In order to do so, we must listen to, look at, and learn from the injustices that have happened in our country, not just in the last week, the last month, or the last year, but for generations.
Change can start with us in our community here at Brimmer. This is why we stress our Core Values of Kindness, Respect, Honesty, and Responsibility, and why we strive to be a school that challenges one another to confront our own conscious and unconscious biases. We seek to provide an education that will empower our students to be changemakers in the Brimmer community, their own communities, and beyond.
June is now widely recognized through the country as LGBTQ+ Pride month; what is now seen as celebration is truly a commemoration of a protest that was started when members of the LGBTQ+ community at the Stonewall Inn in New York City chose to stand up against unfair and unjust treatment by the police. They said, “Enough. We have had it.” This week, people across the country are similarly coming together to protest for change for the Black community. We must acknowledge the pain caused by these recent injustices and the many that came before them, so, like the lilies of the valley, we can grow together to know better, to do better, and to be better. We have to do better for George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. Trayvon Martin. Corey Jones, and for the countless others. We have to say their names, and we have to keep doing this work because we must be, as Dr. King once said, “determined to work and fight until justice runs down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.” We can do it. Together.
Brimmer and May School
69 Middlesex Road
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-566-7462
Chestnut Hill, MA 02467
617-566-7462
As an inclusive private school community, Brimmer welcomes students who will increase the diversity of our school. We do not discriminate on the basis of race, religion, sex, gender, gender identity and expression, disability, sexual orientation, national origin, ancestry, or any other characteristic protected from discrimination under state or federal law, in the administration of our educational policies, admissions practices, financial aid decisions, and athletic and other school-administered programs.