In times like this, I
hate how useless words are. I hate that letters like this ever have to be
written. There’s nothing anyone can say to explain, ease, or heal the hurt
all of us feel right now after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
So I’m not going to try. Instead, I just want to talk about children.
Words may be useless, but a child is beautiful. In his book The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry said, “Since it is beautiful, it is truly useful.” There is nothing more important on this Earth than children. Nothing more precious. No cause, issue, commodity, resource, or possession can hold a candle to them, because all the things we value most are found in them.
Innocence.
Kindness. Trust. Hope. Optimism. Eagerness. As we
grow up, and grow older, we don’t get to keep these traits as much as we
like. But we don’t just lose them. They don’t just vanish into thin
air. Instead, we give them up as gifts. We pass them on; and all
the good things inside us are theirs. Everything we were, everything we
are, everything we hope to be.
That’s why we have to
cherish every moment with our children. Because every moment with a child
is a moment well spent. It doesn’t matter who we are, where we are, or
how we make a living. The most powerful man in the world and the most
humble servant are of equal importance when making a child laugh, or teaching
them a magic trick, or comforting them when they’re sad, scared, or
lonely.
Please, please, please take this moment to hug and hold your children, whether they’re big or small, young or all grown up. Hold your grandchildren. Take your niece or nephew out to play. Send the child next door a present from Santa. Speak in a kind voice. Have patience with them. Not just today, but every day. Say all the things you ever wanted to say, do all the things you ever wanted to do. Don’t put it off another minute. Because when you do, you’re doing the best thing in the world for the best treasures of all. God bless our children.
