Can I talk to you a minute about the kindness of strangers? In a way, this makes me think very much of our assumptions of others, and how we can teach ourselves to assume the worst, or we can just hope for and think the best. I think I tend to fall into the latter category, or at least that is my goal. Let me start with this: it is often those who have the least, who are not full of riches that are more likely to share and to help. May I also add that one of the many many r

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! How dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor adults c

Kindness by Ansel Brown (age 8 when he wrote this) Kindness means being nice on purpose like helping them carry the lunch basket or saying a compliment like ‘You have a nice smile.’ I think kindness is the most important thing in the world. So let me tell you three reasons why we need kindness. If we didn’t have kindness everybody would be grumpy. I think kindness wakes everybody up a little bit more so they can see that kindness brings joy to the world. Kindness means help

I think it’s a good time – no, perhaps the best time – for some compassion towards others. There are a lot of angry hate-filled words being tossed about and it saddens me that this is what our populace has to say to one another. Perhaps I may consider one side to be more correct than the other, but as with all opinions, everyone is entitled to their own; it is not for me – or anyone else, for that matter – to say what another has to believe. Treat another with kindness and

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus. He exists as certainly as love and generosity and devotion exist, and you know that they abound and give to your life its highest beauty and joy. Alas! how dreary would be the world if there were no Santa Claus! It would be as dreary as if there were no Virginias. There would be no childlike faith then, no poetry, no romance to make tolerable this existence. The most real things in the world are those that neither children nor men can se

My five year old whispered in my ear with her tiny voice quivering that an adult told her a few weeks ago that she was fat! It breaks my heart to think my beautiful daughter was thinking this was true for weeks. It is the first time she ever really doubted her self-worth and self-image. I have a few choice words for the horrible person who would take that away from an innocent child and undermine my desire to nurture a strong, beautiful, confident girl. A friend recently sha

See what I did? I just made up my very own acronym. Ah, you might ask: What does the N.I.C.E. stand for? Nice Individuals who are Caring and Empathetic. I’m not saying we have to be all zen and sing Kumbaya, but really, I think we could all stand for a little more niceness. It's the New Year, right? This wouldn't be such a bad resolution, folks. I’ve noticed a glaring lack of awareness of others lately. I don’t know why or how we got here, but it isn’t a very good pl