lisamoe

So yesterday I was reading along in a mystery novel by Nancy Pickard. Briefly, it's about a creepy guy with no past who has apparently murdered a little deaf girl. Along the line you find out a little about the creepy guy's childhood and it's mysterious and tragic too, though he's still quite creepy.  Anyway, the tough district attorney is talking to the protagonist, a true crime writer ,and says about the murderer, "That is why it's so important for adults to be nice to kids. Every damn, annoying one of them. Smile at every kid, I tell people, because that may be the only smile they get from any adult all week long. If I catch any of my assistants being rude to children I tell them, congratulations, you just helped create another alienated, miserable human being."   

That really spoke to me.   And is one reason I try to treat kids with as much kindness as I can, even when they annoy me.   Because I don't know what a child is already having to go through in life and I definitely don't want to be part of whatever turns that kid into the next generation's misanthrope, basket case, or sociopath.   It's my tiny investment in living in a more civil and less frightening world when I'm an old lady.

Today Jesse and I have had a very peaceful morning. He's been sketching in his sketchbook, and I've put a turkey on to roast and caught up some lj and read Newsweek. I also read him Math Curse by Jon Scieszka. It's been very pleasant with no TV on and just having quiet time. However, Mom just brought Dingo in and with him all manner of noise and chaos. But cuteness too, so I can't complain.