Kids

Does anything more joy, contentment than little kids? I know, sometimes, they can be exasperating, but, on the whole, is there anything greater than...

watching the little ones while they sleep? They are so serene, occasionally get a grin as if their dreams are bringing them joy as they rest. I can sit and watch and watch and watch.

taking them to the park and watching them just run around from ride to ride, from the slide to the swings to the merry-go-round? They show just unbound energy and joy.

seeing a dad, even more so than a mom, buy his kid a present? I was at the grocery store yesterday and a dad was purchasing balloons/flowers for his 6-year old (I counted the balloons!). The look of excitement, of contentment, of anticipation on the guy's face was great.

sitting down and reading to them, before they can actually read? Oh, they point out the pictures in the book(s) and tell their own versions of the stories. And, they make up some things, often not even related to the stories. A really cool thing is letting them turn the pages--they don't turn until they are ready and then, it's turn the page.

And then we read in the newspaper of another Muslim child sent by his parents to kill others by wearing a bomb strapped to his/her body. (I'll refrain, today, from commenting on the cowardice of those who send a child to do a job, a dastardly and hideous one at that, they won't do themselves.) Have they never watch their children sleep, read books with them, seen them playing? If so, my questions are why? and how? And I will never, ever understand.

Yet, our President, in his naivete, reaches out to them. He seems to believe all cultures and all ideas are equivalent in validity. What a fool! We should spend more time watching the kids!