In 1999, Laurel Redden, a mother of two from Salem, NH voted, but couldn’t have told
you who her elected representatives were and had never written a letter to an office holder or a
newspaper. She was outraged by news reports of senseless gun violence, but felt powerless to do
anything about it.
But then she heard about the first Million Mom March and the plan to gather one million
mothers on the Mall in Washington, DC to protest the gun violence and the apathy and
fearfulness of the nation’s leaders. She decided to check it out, and on Mother’s Day 2000,
Laurel Redden traveled to Washington, joining 750,000 others for an event that changed the life
of many, including her own. She later became coordinator for the New Hampshire chapter of the
march; and in June she will be filing her candidacy papers for a seat in the New Hampshire
House of Representatives.
Speaking about her journey, Laurel Redden says this: “The more I got involved, the more
I realized that this goes way beyond the gun issue. What I found is that the same system that
keeps commonsense gun laws from being enacted goes beyond that single issue. It is the same
system that keeps our public education from being properly funded; it’s the same system that
places more importance in maintaining a huge military budget than in taking care of our citizens
here at home. It’s the mentality of ‘every man for himself’ and not looking at the bigger societal
issues that go along with some of these things.”
The article on Laurel Redden never mentions God - but then neither does the book of
Esther - and yet Laurel Redden and Esther and women (and men) like them risk their own
comfort and safety for the greater good, the good that God intends for all people.
Thanks be to God for these women and for all women who have in all times and in all
places answered God’s call to follow in the steps of Jesus so that all may have life and have it
abundantly.
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