This week’s tragic elementary school shooting in Nashville, Tennessee - which took the lives of three innocent young children, trusted teachers, and staff - triggered an agonizing ache in my heart. This incident is a horrifying example of the disintegration of our humanity. It chips away at our spirit and destabilizes our fundamental existence. Each terrible, senseless shooting creates a rallying call to action in our country that must be answered. We must act by doing everything possible to put children first; protect them, keep them truly safe.

This incident along with all the others of its kind - think Uvalde, Marjorie Stoneman Douglas, Parkland, Sandy Hook, Columbine - is heinous and unacceptable. Did you know that there have been over 376 school shootings since Columbine?! When will we be a country that stands for children, making them our #1 priority, keeping them truly safe and educating them so that they may live full, happy lives?

I put my feelings into this short poem:

Let children be children,

It’s only fair,

Try to remember, we were once there,

A child’s heart, so tender and new,

Let’s keep it safe, hopeful and true

In my desire to make a difference, I created the Valentino The Love Bunny book series. But it’s more than that. It’s a movement. It’s my way of offering children a safe place to explore universal truths and ethics in a gentle and innocent way. There are messages about family; tolerance; patience; comfort; confidence; hope; good manners; accountability; nature; spirituality; charity; what it means to take action; be a force for good and spread love.

What are you doing in your own way to save the children? What do you think we can do to restore the priceless value of our youngest, most vulnerable citizens? Please feel free to share your thoughts and actions here.