My youngest son just started junior kindergarten. This morning we had a little talk:
“My darling, I have a very important job for you.”
“What is it?”
“Well, there are going to be some kids in your class who are sad or scared. I need you to be brave and help them out. Maybe you can ask them to play.”
“Or to be my friend?”
“Absolutely! Do you think you can do that?”
“I don’t know. What if I’m one of the scared ones?”
“Oh love, that’s ok. You just have to take a deep breath and keep going. Helping people is the most important job in the world.”
Then, I took a long walk in a beautiful, quiet forest, and came up with the long answer.
To my sons:
Being brave doesn’t mean you aren’t scared. Being brave means taking a great big breath and doing the things you need to do anyway, even if you’re scared.
Some days that’s all you’ll manage, and that’s OK.
But sometimes, after you do those things you need to do, you might have a little bit of that big breath, a little bit of strength, a little bit of bravery left over. If that is the case, you have the great privilege of giving it to someone else. You get to put out your hand and help another person be a little less scared, or sad, or hurt, or lonely.
You see, there’s a special kind of bravery, the very best kind, and it’s called being a hero. Now, real heroes don’t fly or wear capes or have x-ray vision. You can find real heroes everywhere. They’re called teachers, nurses, firefighters and police officers. 
They’re called volunteers and good neighbours. Heroes are the politicians, researchers, lawyers and writers who spend every day trying to make the world a better place. Heroes are the kids who stand up for other kids being bullied, and the kids who spend their free time raising money for charity. These are real-life heroes, all the people who use their extra strength and bravery to help others.
And do you know what the greatest part is about being a hero? Every time you help someone else, it makes you just a little bit stronger. It also means that on those days that you don’t feel like you have very much bravery, someone else might be willing to share some of theirs.
Now, you’re going to school, and you’re going to learn a lot of things. But the most important thing I want you to learn, my love, is how to be the best kind of hero you can be.
This morning, we lined up at the Kindergarten door. I kissed his cheek and squeezed his hand. He grabbed my face and kissed my cheek too. I stepped back while he stood in the line. I watched him take a deep breath, and I took one too.
Now, when I say “zoo”….I don’t mean a squirrel or two. In the past year, we have repeatedly had mice, chipmunks, a whole family of raccoons, countless squirrels, every type of local bird, rabbits, toads, snails, neighbourhood cats and a groundhog (who is nearing size of a small bear and lives under the deck.). I won’t even try to list the insect infestations.
, we are going to have to take up hunting small mammals instead. How does pesticide-free, garden-fed, locally-grown, free-range groundhog sound? And, I’m about to go all Mr. McGregor on those rabbits.
generosity, and a little less yelling, shoving and selfishness; a little less “ME FIRST!” and a little more “No, after YOU.” The kids at the back of the crowd need to know how much they mean to the world.
There’s a short moment before I open the newspaper when I brace myself for the worst. What’s going to be on the front page today? Another school shooting? A suicide bombing? Political unrest? Donald Trump rising in the polls?
much. We bring them to a playground and encourage them to play with the lonely child in the sandbox. Then, we promptly turn around, retreat into our comfortable little exclusive circles and look away when something or someone makes us uncomfortable or tests our boundaries.
cultures, income brackets, religions and ages. There are countless opportunities to welcome neighbours from different cultures, to start a conversation at a bus stop or to learn a little more about someone’s belief system. You don’t have to agree with everyone’s worldview or lifestyle, but a little understanding goes a long way towards conquering fear and building peace. I don’t teach my children about tolerance. I don’t like that word. I teach diversity and acceptance. Tolerance implies that differences are to be tolerated rather than celebrated. Tolerance implies superiority.
power make every single person feel welcome, comfortable, supported and included and we hold on for dear life to the hope that others will follow our example.
sounds of neighbourhood children playing outside after an ugly, wet, miserable winter.
After a couple of days, all the babies had left and we thought they were gone, until my husband heard noises and saw bright red cardinal daddy swooping around. In the dark, with a flashlight, he found one fledgling, looking slightly stunned, sitting by the side of the house. Later, 
they graduated to our back yard, where one particular little one spent a few days hopping between our climbing structure, the hammock and our naturalized area, as he learned to fly in longer and longer spurts. Mom and dad took turns watching out for him. Of course, shortly after, once he had mastered flight and could make it up and over the fence, they were gone.
conventional treatments come with side effects that can be as bad as the symptoms of the illness. Pharmaceutical companies have a bad reputation of being motivated only by money, and of pressuring doctors to promote their products. Often, doctors have little time to deal with patients thoroughly and in a holistic manner, often missing things or dismissing patient concerns. It is easy to understand why people would lose faith in the system and seek alternatives. These are some of the reasons why alternative health care has gained so much momentum.
They are sugar pills. Side effects? No. They are sugar pills. Effective? They are sugar pills. You tell me.
In addition, holistic medical practitioners are more likely to spend longer with patients, address many issues at once, and look at the whole body as a system. This type of attention goes a long way toward making a person feel better, and should definitely be incorporated into mainstream medicine. Too many things are missed by doctors focusing only on one particular symptom or system in the body. The expensive remedies prescribed and often sold by homeopathic practitioners have nothing to do with this, but it would be easy to make that mistake.
Homeopathic “alternatives” to vaccines are called “nosodes.” These are made by diluting infected specimens (such as infected saliva or feces) to undetectable levels. When these are administered in place of actual vaccines, children run the risk of catching and spreading diseases that can be effectively avoided with traditional vaccines. The anti-vaccine movement has been responsible for the alarming resurgence of diseases such as measles.