"Guess What, They Magnified Her!"

A LOVING MOTHER’S TESTIMONY TO HER SLAIN DAUGHTER

How admirable, how courageous is Susan Pro, mother of Heather Heyer, the young woman who tragically died in the horrific car attack in Charlottesville, North Carolina, in a racist rally turned violent. Though aching with bittersweet truth and loss, she gave us all a message for our time. And how touching is the message above that this mother left her daughter on Facebook the morning of her passing.

May we mark the sacrifice of such parents and the community supporting them and this dedicated young individual, Heather, just turning thirty three years old, whose tragic destiny is to awaken the world to the evils of hatred and racism. We can be sure some powerful higher

spiritual forces have worked through Heather’s life purpose to bring her to this sacrificial death. May it serve the awakening of humanity to higher moral good. So too, were the deaths of nine- year-old Christina Taylor-Green, (born on 9/11) and others who died in the attack on Congresswoman Giffords in 2011, or Malala, who survived near assassination to lead the world today in education for girls.

Heather is one of a wave of young but conscious and unwavering millennials who are bringing powerful new capacities for social ,justice into the world. Her mother, with great authenticity, stood before the community, four square in her grief to honor her martyred daughter, stating, “Heather wasn’t easy to raise, everything was a negotiation (no kidding)! ‘ But then added that her daughter’s death was true to form, she was a young woman who loved to talk through all the issues of the time, act on them, and then experienced a death that matched her zeal for social justice. As her mother, Susan poignantly stated, “she had to go big and large and have all the world involved because that’s who she was.!”

Mother Susan made the message universal, saying: “ Heather was a caring, compassionate person, but so are a lot of you, a lot of you would go that extra mile. I think the reason why her death has struck a chord is that we know that what she did was achievable. You don’t have to die, but you can find a way to make a difference in the world.... you can channel anger not into hate, violence and fear, but into righteous action -.... like she did in her commitment to have those difficult conversations (to bring about social good) ... This is just the beginning of Heather’s legacy.... I want this to spread..... They thought they could kill her to shut her up, but guess what - they magnified her!”

Truth can be known - good must be done. Heather stands for that. They have said of her, “She lived her life like her path -- and it was one of justice." May the good each one of us can do in this world be ‘magnified’ in its impact on others as Heather Heyer’s legacy will be for our troubled world.