09/10/2024
Ask Angie?
By Angie Jones; Author, connecting generations through history
Psalm 127:3-5 announces “Children are a heritage from the Lord, offspring a reward from him. Like arrows in the hands of a warrior are children born in one’s youth. Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them. They will not be put to shame when they contend with their opponents in court.” Verses three through five contains a beautiful description about the importance of children in Jewish heritage. Most people believe Solomon was the author of these words; others believe that the psalm was composed by David for Solomon. Whether Solomon composed Psalm 127 or David composed Psalm 127 for Solomon this song like many other scriptures in the Bible reflects the value and significance that children have in our community which contributes to social change for the good of the majority.
Currently, the value, significance, and impact of the power of children to affect social change has come through children being injured, bullied, or children taking up residence in heaven. A child’s sacrifice, their value, significance, and impact on our communities are now represented through various laws or acts, such as Izzy’s Law, Lulu’s Law, the John Wesley Foster Act, and the Kids Online Protection Act. These acts or laws were generated for the good of us all, BUT sadly these acts or laws were purchased by or through danger to our children. These acts or laws took our children.
In June 2022, Dori Scott, signed her four-year old son Izzy up for swim lessons. During one of the lessons, Izzy drowned. At previous lesson’s Dori was always there, recording, smiling cheering her son on, but at this particular lesson, the swimming instructor told parents they could not stay and watch. The instructor felt the kids would do better if the moms were not there to watch. As Dori Scott travels throughout Georgia advocating for change, she once solemnly stated “it was like a mom’s worse nightmare for you to walk in there and see your child laying on the side of the pool being administered CPR only to see that his heart never started beating, we never goat a heartbeat.” On March 31, 2023 Senate Bill 107, known as Izzy’s Law, received final passage in the Georgia Senate. Izzy’s Law requires the Georgia Department of Public Health to come up with aquatic safety guidelines for swim instructors. Izzy Scotts’ death requires safety provisions in place including; a ratio of one teacher to every four students for kids under six, the ratios increase by age; a second person to supervise at all lessons, parents can stay; a requirement of CPR certification. Walt and Dori Scott continue their work to make sure every parent knows Izzy’s Law so they can ensure their child’s instructor is following the law.
In the states of Alabama and New Jersey, there are two laws generated through the injury or death of two separate and unique young girls named Lulu. In Montclair, New Jersey in 2014, four-year-old Ana Lucia ‘Lulu’ Haynes came down with flu-like symptoms. Within 24 hours after being taken to the hospital Lulu died as a result of sepsis. In April, 2024, New Jersey Representatives Mikie Sherrill and Larry Bucshon reintroduced the “Sepsis Harm and Cost Reduction Act” or “Lulu’s Law”, a bipartisan legislation that would establish a state grant program to enable healthcare professionals, researchers, innovators, public health officials, and others fighting sepsis on the frontlines to have access to critical information about sepsis and would establish a national strategy for treating and eliminating sepsis. New Jersey has the third highest sepsis mortality rate in the United States. New Jersey’s Lulu’s Law will help improve medical research on sepsis and will ultimately help save lives in New Jersey and around the country.
Connecting to the Western Boundary of Georgia, on July 30, 2024, in Alabama, Senator Katie Britt and Representative Gary Palmer introduced Lulu’s Law named in honor of 15-year-old Lulu Gribbin from Mountain Brook, Alabama. Lulu fell victim to a life-threatening shark attack while vacationing in Florida. 90 minutes earlier a few miles way another woman was attacked by a shark. Lula’s Law will regulate the ability for authorities to qu**ky deploy wireless emergency alerts (WRAs) to the public if someone has been attacked by a shark or if the conditions for a shark attack are present. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) manages the Integrated Public Alert and Warning System (IPAWS), which sends out local alerts that provide authentic emergency information to the public.
Likewise, connecting to the Western Boundary of Georgia in Gadsden, Alabama, while playing in the front yard tossing the football on November 2006, nine-year-old John Wesley Foster collapsed and subsequently died of sudden cardiac arrest. Generated through the transition of a child, this bill sponsored by Representative Ed Oliver ensures that schools will have the training and tools necessary to respond quickly and efficiently to a cardiac event. Signed in the Alabama State House on August 16, 2024 by Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, this legislation requires a cardiac emergency response plan in all Alabama schools. The John Wesley Foster Act requires public schools to have a cardiac emergency plan that instructs people to dial 911, start CPR, and use an automated external defibrillator (AED) on campus and at school-sponsored athletic events in the case of a cardiac emergency. Alabama signed this act in connection with the American Heart Association (AHA). According to AHA, roughly 356,000 people experience cardiac arrest outside of the hospital each year and only 10% survive because of the lack of people equipped to take action. The AHA also reports roughly 23,000 children under 18 experience cardiac arrest outside of a hospital in which 40% of these are sports-related.” John Wesley Foster’s power to affect social change will increase the survival rate of students, school staff, and visitors experiencing cardiac arrest as they wait for Emergency Medical Services to arrive to the scene. With John Wesley’s transition, awareness has been the goal of his family and friends, as well as to touch as many lives as possible to bring awareness about heart conditions.
Pushed by parents like Maurine Molak, of children who died by su***de after online bullying or had been harmed in other ways by online content the Kids Online Protection Act forces companies to take reasonable steps to prevent harm on online platforms frequently used by minors, requiring them to exercise a “duty of care” and ensure that they generally default to the safest settings possible. Maurine Molak, the mother of David a 16-year-old who died by su***de after “months of relentless and threatening cyberbullying, said she believes this act can save lives.” This legislation is the first major effort by Congress in decades to hold tech companies more accountable for the harm they cause. Connecting generations through history, it took Izzy Scott, John Wesley Foster, Ana Lucia ‘Lulu’ Haynes, Lulu Gribbin, David Molak and many other children’s sacrifices, their value, their significance, and their impact on our communities to bring about social change for the good of the whole majority.
Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” Matthew 19:13-14.
“And He took the children in His arms, placed His hands on them and blessed them.” Mark 10:13-16.
It took the children……
My name is Angie, I’m woke, Are you?
