Kids Can Spot A Phony A Mile

Love Isn't A State Of Perfect Caring. It Is An Active Noun Like Struggle. To Love Someone Is To Strive To Accept That Person Exactly The Way He Or She Is, Right Here And Now.

When We Choose To Be Parents, We Accept Another Human Being As Part Of Ourselves, And A Large Part Of Our Emotional Selves Will Stay With That Person As Long As We Live. From That Time On, There Will Be Another Person On This Earth Whose Orbit Around Us Will Affect Us As Surely As The Moon Affects The Tides, And Affect Us In Some Ways More Deeply Than Anyone Else Can. Our Children Are Extensions Of Ourselves.

How Great It Is When We Come To Know That Times Of Disappointment Can Be Followed By Joy; That Guilt Over Falling Short Of Our Ideals Can Be Replaced By Pride In Doing All That We Can; And That Anger Can Be Channeled Into Creative Achievements... And Into Dreams That We Can Make Come True.

There's A World Of Difference Between Insisting On Someone's Doing Something And Establishing An Atmosphere In Which That Person Can Grow Into Wanting To Do It.

When I Was A Boy And I Would See Scary Things In The News, My Mother Would Say To Me, "look For The Helpers. You Will Always Find People Who Are Helping." To This Day, Especially In Times Of "disaster," I Remember My Mother's Words And I Am Always Comforted By Realizing That There Are Still So Many Helpers – So Many Caring People In This World.