Growing up in our house in Sarnia, everyone listened when my
dad spoke. My dad can have a big,
booming voice and a very commanding presence.
You assumed he meant business with just about everything he said, but
probably never so much so as when he reminded us of the first, and most unbreakable
rule in the house: nobody was ever to hit our mother.
That was how the rule was phrased, “You NEVER hit your
mother”. And, to be sure, it was a
literal rule. Even if you were joking
around and playfully pretended to give her a nudge or chuck to the arm, my dad’s
laughter would turn to a glare I can see to this day. That rule was never to be tested. But, even as were instructed to take it
literally, there was a not-so-subtle underlying philosophy to holding this rule
as the central, most important, most oft-noted in the house: women are to be
valued, respected, treated with dignity, and, when necessary, protected.
But, my dad also never saw the women and girls in our house
as weak. I’m vividly remembering coming
downstairs one Christmas morning and finding two fully-loaded toolboxes under
the Christmas tree for my sister and me.
And I can hear my dad’s words about that toolbox to this day: never
become dependent on someone to do things for you. You’re perfectly talented, skilled and capable of doing things
yourself.
And so it didn’t surprise me at all when my dad announced
last fall that he was going to wear a white hoodie every Friday to show his
solidarity with the work of One Spark and to hold it as his personal sign that
mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, cousins, friends, co-workers are NEVER to be abused in any way.
People that have heard my dad does this, or seen him in his white sweatshirt, think its brilliant. So, with his
blessing, we adopted it as a signature campaign and asked our creative
partners, CCI Studios, to bring it to life, which they beautifully did with our
new #BeAMaverick campaign, which you can check out at beamaverick.org.
To be part of the campaign, all you have to do is wear a
white sweatshirt on Friday as a sign of your intolerance of violence against women
(and if you are feeling really inspired, make it a group or office
event!). If you don’t have a white sweatshirt, we are selling them with our Maverick logo on the sleeve:http://beamaverick.org/cart. All of the
proceeds will go to One Spark’s programs helping women to establish financial
sustainability in order to move forward from their experiences with violence. To give
visibility to the work of One Spark and your amazing Maverickness, post your
white hoodie pics on social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) with the
hashtags #BeAMaverick #WhiteHoodieFriday and #onespark.
The impact of men speaking out on violence against women is
critical to meaningful change. Please
consider becoming an advocate of this campaign.
And please use your voice to uphold my dad’s ubreakable rule of zero tolerance of
violence against women.
Peace,
Corrie
One Spark Executive Director
One Spark Executive Director
