You are a very special person. There is only one like you in the whole world. There’s never been anyone exactly like you before, and there will never be again. Only you. And people can like you exactly as you are.
I must be an emotional archaeologist because I keep looking for the roots of things, particularly the roots of behavior and why I feel certain ways about certain things.
All of us, at some time or other, need help. Whether we’re giving or receiving help, each one of us has something valuable to bring to this world. That’s one of the things that connects us as neighbors – in our own way, each one of us is a giver and a receiver.
I realize that it isn’t very fashionable to talk about some things being holy; nevertheless, if we ever want to rid ourselves of personal and corporate emptiness, brokenness, loneliness, and fear, we have to allow ourselves room for that which we can not see, hear, touch, or control.
Taking care is one way to show your love. Another way is letting people take good care of you when you need it.
There are times when explanations, no matter how reasonable, just don’t seem to help.
Our society is much more interested in information than wonder, in noise rather than silence... And I feel that we need a lot more wonder and a lot more silence in our lives.
Imagine what our real neighbors would be like if each of us offered, as a matter of course, just one kind word to another person. There have been so many stories about the lack of courtesy, the impatience of today’s world, road rage and even restaurant rage. Sometimes, all it takes is one kind word to nourish another person. Think of the ripple effect that can be created when we nourish someone. One kind empathetic word has a wonderful way of turning into many.
There’s a part of all of us that longs to know that even what’s weakest about us is still redeemable and can ultimately count for something good.
All our lives, we rework the things from our childhood, like feeling good about ourselves, managing our angry feelings, being able to say good-bye to people we love.
When I think of Robert Frost’s poems, like “The Road Not Taken”, I feel the support of someone who is on my side, who understands what life’s choices are like, someone who says, “I’ve been there, and it’s okay to go on”.
Often when you think you’re at the end of something, you’re at the beginning of something else. I’ve felth that many times. My hope for all of us is that “the miles we go before we sleep” will be filled with all the feelings that come from deep caring – delight, sadness, joy, wisdom – and that in all the endings of our life, we will be able to see the new beginnings.
In a young child’s mind, parents probably condone what’s on the television, just like they choose what’s in the refrigerator or on the stove. That’s why we who make television for children must be especially careful.
Pretending doesn’t require expensive toys.
You’ve made this day a special day, by just your being you. There’s no person in the whole world like you, and I like you just the way you are.
Jane Addams, writing about her Twenty Years at Hull House, said, “People did not want to hear about simple things. They wanted to hear about great things – simply told.
In fact, from the time you were very little, you’ve had people who have smiled you into smiling, people who have talked you into talking, sung you into singing, loved you into loving.
We get so wrapped up in numbers in our society. The most important thing is that we are able to be one-to-one, you and I with each other at the moment. If we can be present to the moment with the person that we happen to be with, that’s what’s important.
The media shows the tiniest percentage of what people do. There are millions and millions of people doing wonderful things all over the world, and they’re generally not the ones being touted in the news.
All we’re ever asked to do in this life is to treat our neighbor – especially our neighbor who is in need – exactly as we would hope to be treated ourselves. That’s our ultimate responsibility.