A group of professional people asked a group of four- to eight-year-old children this question: "What does love mean?"
 
Here are some of the answers:

1) “When someone loves you, the way they say your name is different. You just know that your name is safe in their mouth." Billy - age 4

Susan notes: This list makes sense to me, even at close-to-60! This great compliation is often falsely attributed to Maya Angelou.

In fact, it was penned by Pamela Redmond Satran, who has written five novels and numerous articles for a variety of publications.

Enjoy!

I've learned:

1) no matter what happens, or how bad it seems today, life does go on, and it will be better tomorrow.

2) you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.

Susan notes: this is a lovely story, though I have no way of knowing whether it’s true or not. Several Internet searches proved futile in confirming it’s veracity. But it’s so sweet that I’m posting it anyway.

This piece is dedicated to George (pictured at right) and Jeffrey (pets of my friends Holly and Janice respectively), who both passed on to pet heaven.

Susan notes: I invite men everywhere to join women in making this world a safer, better, more peaceful place to be.

1.    Approach gender violence as a MEN'S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers.

1. Reflect, meditate, or pray.

2. Go to bed on time.

3. Get up on time so you can start the day unrushed.

4. Say No to projects that won't fit into your time schedule, or that will compromise your mental health.

Written by a former child, who could have been any one of us...

1. When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you hang my first painting on the refrigerator, and I immediately wanted to paint another one.

2. When you thought I wasn't looking, I saw you feed a stray cat, and I learned that it was good to be kind to animals.