Through the eyes of a child...

I am always delighted by the innocense of my grandson Andrew. Here he is sitting on his daddy's shoulders, and life could not be greater.

Wouldn't the world be a different place if we could all see it again through the eyes of a child? Without the prejudices that we develop over time that are probably just due to an unfortunate misunderstanding with someone who is different from us. That doesn't mean that everyone from that region of the country, world, religion is the same as the person we had the ugly situation with.

If we all looked at the world through a childs eyes, there would be no politics, wars, or hurtful gossiping. They look at all new people as friends. Children are not jaded by bad experiences. As parents we feel it a responsibility to train them to be wary of strangers.

I have always worked with the public, and sometimes have encountered very demanding, and sometimes ugly tempered people. I try not to let it color my feelings for the next person, or take it personally. Maybe they do not like my midwest accent, the color of skin, or my accent. In the midwest, we let the civil war go long ago, but I have come to realize in the South it is still a great part of the culture. The outward facade often hides deeply hidden resentments. But think of this... we cannot undo history, and the majority of people living today had nothing to do with the past injustices. America is truly a melting pot. People here tracing their roots are from everywhere, and when they arrived, they were treated in a nasty and unwelcome manner. It is not a new phenomonom. America mistreated the japanese, italians, polish, jewish, mexican, indians and just about evry other nationality you can think of. Now if you are from the middle east, you are looked at with skeptism.

I must admit, that I have my prejudices, just as all do. They come from unfortunate dealings with people. But I am trying to step back and learn from my grandson, that everyone can be my friend, if I am just open to it.

Don't compare your life to others. You have no idea what eheir journey is all about.