Skip to main content

Be Good!!!

When you wish on a star, what do you ask for?  So many of us say we just wanted to be happy, or what we want for our kids is for them to be happy.  I just had a birthday and as I was blowing out my candles, I was reminded of a speaker I heard several years ago at a spiritual breakfast.  The speaker said, “don’t raise your kids in the hopes they will be happy, raise them too be good – and then many will be happy, including them.” 

 I remember how moving  and thought sparking that statement was and still is for me.  So many people are focused on finding happiness, like it is a destination, instead of a by-product of a more important journey – goodness.  The definition of good from www.webster-dictionary.net is;

Good =

1.
Possessing desirable qualities; adapted to answer the end designed; promoting success, welfare, or happiness; serviceable; useful; fit; excellent; admirable; commendable; not bad, corrupt, evil, noxious, offensive, or troublesome, etc.

 
As I blew out the candles this year, I wished for my kids to be good.   This morning, I got some of what I had wished for.  My kids were exceptionally good to each other, which is not always the case for 7 and 4 year olds.  My son had a bad dream last night that resonated for him.  He told his big sister and she sat close beside him during breakfast, reassuring him and giving him affection, to help him feel more secure.  My son felt so good he didn’t race his sister to the door to be first walking to school, which often irritates her and results in harsh words between them, and leaves a scowl on Mommy’s face.  They walked beside each other, through the light rain – each holding their umbrellas and chatting easily over observations on the walk to school.  Not one angry word shared.

 My heart swelled and I let them know how proud I was to see them being good to each other.  I expect their good spirits to carry over into their treatment of classmates and teachers today and look forward to hearing the results of that this afternoon.  I walked home after dropping them at school, and shared my umbrella with another parent who had forgotten theirs.  I picture that person moving through their day and passing a piece of kindness onto another – and so on.

 I now think of 'good' like ‘paying it forward’.  If we do good for one, they do good for another and it spreads faster than a seasonal cold!  And, if this morning was any example, when we do good, we feel happy.  I am still smiling, hours later, thinking of how good my kids were to each other and how that made me want to be good to others too.

 
That is my wish for you today – so go forth, and be good!!.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

It Only Takes One

My son's daycare had five amazing, 8-foot sunflowers growing in their garden this summer.  My own sunflowers didn't do very well so we asked if we could have some of the seeds from daycare to plant in our garden next summer.  Shawna began to harvest the seeds from the faces of the sunflowers.  She took some home with her and a creature destroyed most of them - only a few remaining in their shells.  She returned to daycare to learn that the heads of the remaining sunflowers had been stolen right off their stalks in the yard of the daycare.  The ladies were upset and disappointed that they might not be able to carry on the tradition of their sunflowers. Cornell Sunflower - see the attempt at taping the stem ... When my husband got home from work today he told me their story and asked,"hey - do you have any more of those books with the 'Cornell Sunflower' story?"  A story I wrote was published by 'Chicken Soup' and the similarities to th...
1 comment
Read more

Elvis the Cat

Elvis the cat went missing last Thursday night.   For 14 years Elvis the Cat lived with me indoors. He was afraid of the outside.   Due to kidney disease, he has been living on borrowed time but was still vibrant, fat and happy.   Lately, he seemed desperate to get outside.   I had been warned he might run away to die.      I searched for two days and nights, was sad, and began to look back …. We met at a farm in 1999.   He was undernourished, with mites and fleas.   I was embarking on a new, independent life.   We knew instantly that we belonged to each other.   I nursed him back to life – physically, and he nourished my spirit.   I didn’t hear him meow for the first few years of his life.   I always thought it was because I saw to his every need before he knew he had it.   At night, he would sleep curled in my arms.   If he heard a noise, he would perch on the end of my bed between me and a potenti...
Post a Comment
Read more

Cornell Community Soup

“Cornell Community Soup” is more than just a metaphor for the melting pot of cultures, religions, beliefs and politics we embody.  The Village of Cornell is nestled in the eastern boarder of Markham, Ontario, surrounded by sister villages that continue the tradition of service and support throughout the community.  I have lived on my block in Cornell for 16 years.  Bigger houses with lower prices from the north continue to tempt, yet the warm hug of this community always keeps us home.  In anticipation of another exciting Blue Jay’s post season game, a pot of turkey soup is simmering on our stove.  Turkey from the Markham Butcher , and carrots and garlic from Reesor Farm .  Both local small business run by families who suffered losses this month.  The Markham Butcher and his wife lost their precious baby son earlier this month.  An unfathomable tragedy.  Reesor Farm was   targeted by trespassers and looters  on Thanksgiving Mon...
Post a Comment
Read more