Wishing

This week has been a trying time for most Americans. There are countless discussions going on all across our country regarding our communal stand on gun control, mental illness, and basic morality. Many parents are wondering if their children are being raised in a culture that desensitizes them to violence. 

I don't think anyone would argue that most children today are exposed to a lot more violence than 50 years ago.  Yes, we watched Popeye back then, and it was pretty violent, but it was also cartoony and silly and we as children knew it wasn't real.  Movies that would have been rated R in the 1970's now seem archaic compared to some of the films that are released today.  And I'm always shocked to see all the very young children in the theater whenever I attend an R rated film today. 

If we want the world to be a better place, we have to start at home, begin with the choices we make for our own children. 

Florence @ 1920.  Looks like she's all dressed up
to go somewhere special.

Do you wish the world were better?
  Let me tell you what to do.
Set a watch upon your actions,
  Keep them always straight and true.
Rid your mind of selfish motives,
  Let your thoughts be clean and high.
You can make a little Eden
  Of the sphere you occupy.

Do you wish the world were wiser?
  Well, suppose you make a start,
By accumulating wisdom
  In the scrapbook of your heart;
Do not waste one page on folly;
  Live to learn, and learn to live
If you want to give men knowledge
  You must get it, ere you give.

Do you wish the world were happy?
  Then remember day by day
Just to scatter seeds of kindness
  As you pass along the way,
For the pleasures of the many
  May be ofttimes traced to one,
As the hand that plants an acorn
  Shelters armies from the sun.
            ~Ella Wheeler Wilcox