Should we send the children to the large, public elementary school, or to a smaller but expensive private school? Should I accept an offer for a higher-paying managerial job and give up the hands-on involvement, or stay at my current level and salary, but do work that I love? Should I go to graduate school now and finish in 18 months, or enter the workforce and go to grad school at night, but finish in 3-4 years?
It was late after dinner, almost bedtime, when my son, a first-grader, informed me in a distressed tone of voice that he had not done his school homework, which was due the next morning. Instinctively, I asked him “what are you going to do about it?”
We all want the best for our children. We want them to be knowledgeable, capable, and self-confident human beings, able to one day make important contributions to both their own lives and the lives of others.
Across time, I have come to learn that all of life is a unified story, woven together by the threads of everyone’s individual stories. This patchwork of truths and lessons has much to teach me and much joy to give me-but the key is to train myself to discern the patterns of the fabric and interpret what they are saying.
The American Heritage Dictionary says, “Play is to occupy oneself in amusement, sport, or other recreation.”
Part of Webster’s definition of guilt includes the statement, “a feeling of shame or remorse due to personal responsibility, real or imagined, for an offense.” Does the responsibility pertain to a sense of inter-connectivity, to mankind, to community, to family or to home?
Conservation begins with you, and the things that you do every day at home! The word “conservation” is used a lot these days, especially when it comes to fuel, money, savings, and energy. Sometimes the word has negative connotations because people immediately think they have to do without something. But, according to The American Heritage Dictionary, conservation doesn’t mean doing without — it means “the act or process of conserving — carefully or sparingly, avoiding waste.”
We recently had the opportunity to talk with Leslie Gaskins, the Development Director of Easter Seals, Florida’s East Coast Regional Office.
