The world is kept at balance by our throughts, by our goals, dreams and wishes. Each individual is adding to the scales, be it for good or for evil. Do not complain that you’re too small, that you cannot make a difference, that you cannot change the world. Each little thought, each idea can be the one thing that tips the balance. No effort is in vain.
And despite everything, I think believe in people.
My Friend Andee brought up a very valuable question in her (fabulous) Blog:
She asks THE question:
It brings up this question: In a day and age with no Little Yellow Birds and no Expectations of behavior, do I continue to try and instill these old-fashioned values in my kids, or do I throw in the towel and give them a fighting chance amongst peers who have no respect for others, much less, themselves?
And this brings me to a topic that is eating at me since some time now (since it happened, actually). Here is the story [rant on]:
I have the same problem. Here is our personal conundrum:
We have 5 sets of direct neighbors (as we are in the middle of a settling). One family has one kid, Mark, who is 4. The other family has two kids. Their smallest, Alice, 5, plays with Mark. Their older boy, Peter, 8, plays, well, not with many kids, it seems. (Btw, I changed the names. They’re not their real names).
I cannot say I initially disliked them. They are very different than we are, rather uptight and closed. But I remained friendly and did all the necessary neighbor stuff: Invited them to garden parties, wrote them Christmas cards, gave them an Easter basket and so on (although none of this was ever reciprocated, but these are things I do not measure, so I don’t care).
The kids are EXTREMELY well behaved. As far as mute counts as well behaved. You seldom hear them talk at all, and surely not in the presence of adults. But. I am continuously finding out they are… mean. Just evil. I mean it. (more…)
